Former More Supermarket director acquitted of falsifying documents to export mobile phones to Libya

A court has declared a former director of More Supermarket in Hamrun not guilty of falsifying importation documents for two shipping containers full of mobile phones, which was sent to Libya in 2006.

36-year-old Adrian Agius, of Zebbug, had originally been arraigned together with his father, Raymond, however Raymond Agius was subsequently murdered in a 2008 shooting at the Butterfly Bar in Birkirkara.

Magistrate Anthony Micallef Trigona was told how Raymond and Adrian Agius had been the directors of Ter Nova Company Ltd, which was alleged to have used false documentation in an attempt to export a consignment of mobile phones worth €190,000 to Tripoli.

Prosecuting inspector Angelo Gafa’ had argued that the customs stamps on the documents were not the same type as those used by the Customs Department at the time. In addition to this, it alleged that the signatures on the documents did not correspond with those of the officers on duty on the day.

The court noted that the prosecution was basing its case on the authenticity of the rubber stamp on the exportation document and on an attendance sheet of the officials on duty on the day, whose signature is absent.

The provenance of a signature, by a certain “Micallef”, could not be established as a witness had testified that, while an official with that name did work there, the signature was not his and that the official was not working on the day in question.

Agius was reported to have escaped from Malta following the unravelling of the €40 million fraud involving More Supermarkets. Media reports had suggested that Agius was being hounded by creditors of Ryan Schembri, the former owner of More Supermarkets, whom he had encouraged to invest in one of Schembri’s failed investment schemes. Schembri fled the island in 2014 together with his family.

Agius however denied escaping, claiming on social media that he had been abroad on business and planned to return by month’s end.

Agius later returned to Malta and was sentenced in connection with the case.

Lawyers Franco Debono, Marion Camilleri and Angie Muscat defended the accused.