Chris Cardona summonsed to testify in Joseph Muscat Vitals case
Employees from several banks testify about commercial relationships with two of the companies involved in the case; prosecution to summons former minister Chris Cardona as a witness in future sitting
1 August 2024, 10:28am
Matthew Agius
Matthew Agius
2 min read
Chris Cardona and Joseph Muscat pictured together in an Instagram post by the former Prime Minister
Former minister Chris Cardona is set to testify in the compilation of evidence against Joseph Muscat, Konrad Mizzi, Brian Tonna, Karl Cini and more than a dozen other individuals and companies.
Reading from the list of witnesses that the prosecution had requested, the magistrate listed former minister Chris Cardona, Cardona, who had signed the original Memorandum of Understanding with Vitals, Malta Enterprise, Jobsplus, INDIS, Projects Malta, the clerk of the House of Representatives and the Auditor General, as well as witnesses from the steering, evaluation and negotiation committees that had participated in the selection process before the concession was granted to VGH.
Twenty witnesses - representatives from Malta-registered banks - were heard in under an hour.
The witnesses had been summonsed to confirm whether the banks they represented held any accounts registered to Kasco Engineering Company Ltd or MTrace PLC, either presently or in the past, and for eighteen of them, the answer was ‘no’.
The monotonous procession of negative replies finally came to an end with the final two witnesses, representing BOV and HSBC.
It emerged that MTrace had banked with BOV from January 2016 to December 2023, while Kasco Engineering Co Ltd held five active accounts with the bank. Statements for the accounts for the duration of the companies’ relationship with the bank were exhibited. Mtrace had never opened or operated any accounts at HSBC, the court was told, but Kasco Engineering Co Ltd held five HSBC accounts since 2004. All of the accounts were now closed, the last being shut down in 2017, its representative informed the court.
Magistrate Rachel Montebello, who had allocated two hours for today’s sitting, was not amused when the prosecution informed her that the last witness summonsed for today had been heard, around 45 minutes after the sitting started.
The magistrate told the prosecution that she wanted to hear as many prosecution witnesses as possible before the acts of the case have to be sent back to the AG, and then have the foreign experts and forensic accountants who assisted the magisterial inquiry testify in a separate hearing, after that.
The case was adjourned with the next sitting to take place on August 8.
Matthew Agius was Senior Reporter on Law and Court Affairs at MaltaToday from 2014 to 2024...
The court sets the dates for the next sittings: August 8 at 11:30am and 21 August at 10:00.
She says that Kasco Engineering Co Ltd holds five bank accounts with BOV.
The next witness, Timothy Zammit from HSBC Bank Malta PLC, tells the magistrate that HSBC had no relationship with MTrace in the past and neither does it have one presently.
Kasco Engineering had five accounts 2004 -2011. All of the accounts are now closed, the last in 2017, he says.
Marsha Mamo from Izola Bank confirms that Izola Bank "does not have and never had any relationship with" the two companies.
Fimbank representative Holly Wilson also confirms that the companies in question have never been clients of the bank.
The court hears similar testimonies from Danila Corizona, senior legal counsel at Shift 4 bank, Alvin Tabone, MLRO at Lombard Bank and Kadir Serkan Gurbuzoglu, the MLRO at Turkiye Garanti Bankasi AS (Malta Branch).
Next up is Marisa Micallef for APS Bank telilng the court, “we were asked to search for the two companies and it results that neither of them have ever held accounts with us.”
Elaine Polidano, compliance officer at FCM Bank: “everything came up negative.”
Omar Emer from AK Bank testifies that the Bank he represents held nothing about the subject persons and never had a banking relationship with them.
Similarly, Kyle Briffa from ECCM Bank PLC “I confirm they neither have accounts with the bank nor did they have in the past,” he tells the magistrate.
The next four witnesses: Karl Vella from IIG Bank, Sarah Borg AML Officer at Sparkasse Bank, Martin Scerri MLRO ME Direct, Martha Albaran Martinez on behalf of Multitude Bank Malta PLC, also declare that the companies in question have never banked with them.
No cross-examination is requested and she steps off the stand.
Andrea Emanuel Zerafa from Merkanti Bank testifies next
Confirms that the bank held no accounts in the names Kasco Engineering Company or MTrace
Prosecutor Rebekah Spiteri informs the court that around 22 witnesses are yet to testify. Today a number of bank representatives will be taking the stand.
The court notes that no objections to the court hearing witnesses in Conger Thompson’s absence and orders him to present a doctor’s certificate justifying his absence.