Widow of notary Ivan Barbara denies client funds were used for adoption

The widow of notary Ivan Barbara is denying client funds held in escrow by her late husband were used to adopt their child from India.

Rosanne Barbara Zarb said in a letter sent to the media that she had no involvement or connection with her late husband’s profession.

This is the first time that Barbara Zarb broke her silence after clients of her late husband who had deposited funds on promise of sale agreements were left chasing their money.

Ivan Barbara died earlier this year from COVID-19 in India. He was there, along with his wife, to adopt a child.

Barbara Zarb insisted that “all expenses for adopting her daughter, including her own and her late husband’s travel and accommodation expenses, were paid in their entirety from funds deriving exclusively from the exercise of her own profession”.

Barbara Zarb is an accountant by profession.

She said that the spouses had no involvement and connection with each other’s profession or its exercise.

“Mrs Barbara Zarb strongly denies that she made use, benefitted or received in her own bank accounts any part of those funds. Spouses Barbara kept and operated separate accounts, both in regard to their work as well as for their personal transactions,” the letter reads.

Referring to declarations made by some on social media that the funds held in escrow may have been funnelled into offshore companies, Barbara Zarb said these were “completely false and defamatory”. She also denied misappropriating funds.

“She never had any involvement whatsoever in offshore companies, nor misappropriated any funds whatsoever,” the letter reads.

“Whilst understanding and empathising with whoever is reclaiming his funds, Mrs Barbara Zarb has no information whatsoever in that regard, and all allegations implying her benefitting in any way from those monies, during her husband’s lifetime or after his death, are completely untrue,” the letter continues.

Barbara Zarb said she had no other option but to seek judicial remedies against whoever is spreading these “false and defamatory allegations” in order to safeguard her own and her daughter’s interest.

On Thursday, three clients of Ivan Barbara filed a court application requesting a magisterial inquiry into the alleged fraud and misappropriation by the notary and his wife.

The pending deeds and wills in Barbara’s possession have to be passed on to the Chief Government Notary but the Notarial Council has said it has no jurisdictions on any civil claims related to deposits and urged clients to seek legal advice.

Clients who had deposited money in escrow with notary Barbara after entering into promise of sale agreements are unsure whether they will ever see their funds.

The Notarial Council confirmed yesterday that Barbara Zarb had renounced her late husband’s inheritance.