Court raps prosecution not up to speed on Dalli daughters Ponzi fraud case

The court hearing evidence against the daughters of former European Commissioner John Dalli on charges of running a Ponzi scheme, has deplored the fact the defendants were brought to court without either the Attorney General or the police being aware of what evidence is yet to be presented.

Dalli’s daughters, Louise Dalli and Claire Gauci Borda, are facing charges of money laundering, misappropriation of funds, fraud, making a false declaration to a public authority and the falsification and use of documents.

The Ponzi scheme, first reported by assassinated journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia back in 2015, was allegedly run by fraudster Marie Eloise Corbin Klein, who operated under a number of aliases.

The woman was later investigated by the FBI for having allegedly scammed Americans out of some $600,000 by posing as a Christian missionary and convincing them to invest their savings into an African mining project.

Instead the money was funnelled into two Maltese companies – Tyre Ltd and Corporate Group – owned by Louise Dalli and Claire Gauci Borda, Dalli’s two daughters, and which are registered at John Dalli’s home address in Portomaso.

The court is to decree on a request filed by defence lawyer Stefano Filletti that the prosecution exhibit a letter sent by OLAF, opening the investigation.

In the latest sitting on Friday, Magistrate Caroline Farrugia Frendo heard the prosecution declare that it had in its possession a number of sealed boxes of evidence, but did not know what they contained or whether their contents were relevant to the case at hand.

The prosecuting inspector declared that the case had been handed over to them and were not yet up to speed on the facts and evidence which had to be presented. The court was also told that the AG was unaware of these problems.

The prosecution declared that it had filed an application requesting a copy of the acts of the magisterial inquiry and which has not been given to it yet.

Deploring the fact that the sitting was held for nothing, the court chided the prosecution for bringing the parties back to court for nothing, pointing out that the charges the defendants were facing were serious.

The court ordered the prosecution to provide it with a list of all evidence and witnesses yet to be heard in this case by next sitting.