Driver claims police threatened to arrest him as No Deposit Cars owners towed his car

A man who says his car was unilaterally and illegally repossessed by No Deposit Cars in April 2021 has claimed that officers from the Ħamrun police station had turned up while it was being towed away, threatening to arrest him if he refused to hand over the keys.

The incident was brought to the attention of the First Hall of the Civil Court today in a judicial protest that was filed against Christian Borg, Princess Holdings, No Deposit Cars and Joe Camenzuli, by lawyers Jason Azzopardi and Kris Busieta on behalf of the man.

A formal police report is also understood to have been filed today.

In the judicial protest, plaintiff Falah Khalaf told the court that he had purchased two vehicles from No Deposit Cars on a hire-purchase basis - a Land Rover TDV6 Sport and a BMW 3-series. As a result of illegal surveillance carried out by the defendants, the two cars were seized from different towns in the space of one hour, while he was dining out with his family in Ħamrun in April 2021.

Khalaf had seen his Land Rover being towed and had approached the defendants, telling them that they could not just suddenly decide to repossess it because all his payments were up to date, and that he had already paid over €12,000.

The defendants tried to intimidate him into handing over the keys, but he had refused. Seeing this, they had immediately called their friends at the Ħamrun police station, say the lawyers. It was at that moment that the tow truck driver had informed Khalaf that he had just towed his other vehicle, the BMW, from Mosta.

A few moments later, at around 11pm, four police officers arrived and tried to force Khalaf to hand over the keys “to the thieves who were committing the crime of vehicular theft or certainly had been committing the offence of taking the law into their own hands at that point.”

But instead of defending Khalaf from Borg and his associates, the police officers had threatened to arrest him if he continued to refuse to hand over the keys.

The incident and the implied covert surveillance had caused the man to suffer great stress and anxiety, said his lawyers, adding that belongings of his which had been inside the vehicles have not been returned to this day.

Six weeks after the incident, Khalaf had visited the No Deposit Cars showroom in Burmarrad to try and convince the defendants to return the cars. “That day Christian Borg told him ‘if you don’t bring me my €16,000, I will send a group of Serbians and they will definitely bring them to me from you.’ A very clear threat from a criminal who knew that he had and still has the blessing of those in power.”