Brian Tonna, Karl Cini started falsifying documents when inquiries kicked off • Bail denied
Nexia BT partners Brian Tonna, Karl Cini, Manuel Castagna and their employee Katrin Bondin Carter have been denied bail as the compilation of evidence against them continued
Brian Tonna and Karl Cini had prepared backdated documents to satisfy due diligence requirements after a magisterial inquiry started probing their actions, a police inspector said in court.
Testifying in the compilation of evidence against Nexia BT partners Tonna, Cini and Manuel Castagna, and their employee, Katrin Bondin Carter, Inspector Ian Camilleri said the documents were required by Pilatus Bank.
The four accused were denied bail by Magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech.
Camilleri was testifying about the conclusions of an inquiry that probed an alleged kickback of €100,000 by Tonna to former OPM chief of staff Keith Schembri. Tonna had claimed the money was repayment for a loan Schembri had given him while he passed through marital separation.
The court heard how Bondin Carter, who was a manager at Nexia BT, had prepared backdated documents with Karl Cini to be presented to Pilatus Bank. The documents did not reflect reality, the inspector testified.
In other testimony, Inspector Anne Marie Xuereb said that Bondin Carter would be sent for by the firm’s partners and told what to write and what not to write.
“When I asked her why she hadn't questioned why the letters were backdated, she said as long as she wasn't signing off on them, she had no reason to. The documents were sent to Pilatus Bank for due diligence requirements,” Xuereb told the court.
She said the documents related to Willerby Trading and things that had already happened. “They were definitely backdated, but I don't remember if there were other documents except those relating to Pilatus,” she said.
Willerby Trading was owned by Brian Tonna and was the company from which money was transferred to Keith Schembri's Pilatus Bank account.
Bondin Carter’s defence lawyer Franco Debono argued that his client did not sign any of the documents and was just fulfilling requests made by her employers.
Lawyer Stephen Tonna Lowell for Tonna and Cini argued that the documents were not fake. “Brian Tonna’s and Karl Cini's document is truthful, but had been backdated,” he argued.
But Xuereb rebutted that the charge related to false documents dealt with a cheque for €84,000 to MFSP.
MFSP, later renamed Zenith, was the financial services firm that held investment accounts for Adrian Hillman, Vince Buhagiar and Keith Schembri. The owners of Zenith – Matthew Pace and Lorraine Falzon – are also facing money laundering charges.
The court also heard the police inspectors give details of various money transactions that passed through accounts attached to the various companies linked to Tonna, Cini and Castagna.
AG lawyer Elaine Mercieca Rizzo objected to bail on the grounds that investigations are ongoing, which could lead to further arraignments. She said that the prosecution feared the accused would tamper with evidence.
“Accounting firms are a gateway to our financial services sector and they are there to prevent abuse. In this case, they gave advice on how to abuse the system… We heard the inspector testify that as soon as the magisterial inquiries began, a process of falsifying documents also began, after the alleged offences took place in order to cover their tracks,” Mercieca Rizzo said.
Defence lawyers argued that all documentary evidence had been preserved in the inquiry and their clients had not absconded in the four years the investigation was going on.
The court is now evaluating bail submissions and will decree on the matter at 4:30pm.
Background
The four accused, who all pleaded not guilty, were charged with money laundering, along with others.
In September 2020, Tonna and Cini lost their warrants to practice as accountants after the regulatory authority initiated disciplinary proceedings against them.
The board also suspended the registration of Nexia BT, BTI Management Limited and Nexia BT Advisory Services Limited.
The court had already imposed a wide-ranging freezing order on Tonna and Cini, their companies and linked business associates.
Earlier today, Magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech denied bail to Keith Schembri, Malcolm Scerri and Robert Zammit, all linked to the Kasco Group. Schembri's elderly father, Alfio Schembri, was the only one granted bail.
“As this is independent from the operation of the prosection and how it investigates and how it arraigns people and also because in this decree, the court entered into the merits of the charges by raising the lack of trustworthiness of the accused because of the allegation of falsification, when effectively from the evidence so far there is no falsification, I am requesting with the greatest respect that this honourable court refer this issue to the First Hall of the Civil court in its Constitutional jurisdiction over a breach of Art. 5 of the European Convention of Human Rights.” Kurt Sansone
On Karl Cini and Brian Tonna: She notes the allegations of forgery and says this doesn't give the peace of mind required. “There is no doubt that all the evidence in this case has not yet been collected and presented in court,” the magistrate says.
“If granted bail there is the risk that evidence could be tampered with. It is in the public interest that their arrest continues,” she says. She quotes the case Yorgen Fenech vs Malta which supports the view that continued detention is permissible and not to be taken in the abstract and has to take note of the public interest.
“It is the opinion of this court that the fears are still in place and the court denies bail to Tonna and Cini,” the ruling reads. The magistrate urges the prosecution to act expeditiously.
The court also denies bail to Manuel Castagna and Katrin Bondin Carter. Kurt Sansone
Nexia BT Ltd received €36,000
In two transaction to an HSBC account held by the same company, Nexia BT received over €50,000
Beverly Tonna received €10,000 while Brian Tonna received over €21,000 in six instalments Kurt Sansone
Tonna has claimed that the €100,000 he paid Keith Schembri was the repayment of a personal loan he had received during the time when he was separating from his wife. Kurt Sansone
MFSP, later renamed Zenith, was the financial services firm that held investment accounts for Adrian Hillman, Vince Buhagiar and Keith Schembri. The owners of Zenith – Matthew Pace and Lorraine Falzon - are also facing money laundering charges. Kurt Sansone
Tonna Lowell says he had asked for disclosure several times but this had not been given before 9 December.
“Do we agree that Brian Tonna and Karl Cini had answered all the questions put to them bar those which they had already told the inquiring magistrate?” Kurt Sansone
Willerby Trading was owned by Brian Tonna and was the company from which money was transferred to Keith Schembri. Kurt Sansone