Nexia BT partner ‘unable to recall’ details on HSBC reference letters

Nexia BT partner Karl Cini failed to recall details related to reference letters issued by HSBC on behalf of Keith Schembri and Malcolm Scerri this morning as the compilation of evidence in a defamation case against the Malta Independent continued.

Cini, together with Nexia BT managing partner Brian Tonna, opened libel proceedings against the newspaper over two articles in the Malta Independent, one published in the Sunday newspaper on 8 May last year, titled “HSBC investigation expected into alleged fraudulent documents vouching for Keith Schembri and Malcolm Scerri,” and another online titled “Probe expected into alleged fraudulent documents,” last updated on 11 May 2016 to confirm that the documents were “authentic, not fraudulent.” The articles claimed that HSBC Bank Malta was expected to launch an investigation into the use of documents concerning OPM chief of staff Keith Schembri and Malcolm Scerri, Kasco Ltd owner and general manager respectively, which featured a letterhead for a branch which was no longer operational when the letters were dated.

This morning, Cini told a court that the reference letters had been specifically requested by financial services firm Mossack Fonseca. 

However, when asked whether the reference letter request had been made in writing or verbally, Cini said that he could not remember and could not consult his records since the request had possibly been made on the phone.

Cini’s lawyer, Aaron Mifsud Bonnici, intervened during questioning to point out that his client was professionally bound not to reveal the information requested of him by Mossack Fonseca – a request made by lawyer Peter Fenech, appearing on behalf of the Malta Independent.

The line of questioning amounted to a “phishing expedition”, Mifsud Bonnici added.

Fenech went on to ask Cini what the purpose of the letters had been. Cini initially refused to answer the question, claiming it was “irrelevant.”

“A witness cannot decide upon the relevance or otherwise of questions put to him,” Fenech retorted swiftly. “Is this the level to which we have reduced justice?” the lawyer asked.

Cini explained how the letters were issued from HSBC head office by Lawrence Pace, the relations manager normally consulted by Nexia BT in the ordinary course of business.

Cini could not recall whether contact with the bank had been made by the clients, Schembri and Scerri, or by himself.

This prompted the lawyer to turn to the court, calling the witness "unreliable" and requesting a suspension of the cross-examination in order to obtain the information being sought from bank officials under oath.

Additionally, Cini could not recall who had signed for receipt of the reference letters or whether they had been accompanied by a covering letter. He said the reference letters had either been received by Nexia BT via post or had been personally collected from the bank.

Cini’s lawyer argued that the questions being posed were irrelevant to the merits of the case, to which Fenech responded that this information lay at the heart of the matter, since the allegedly defamatory articles concerned the issue of documents from HSBC’s Attard branch, months after it had closed down.