Rabat abduction: who are the men behind a car hire business empire?

Updated on 8 February with Sicily By Car statement

Five men charged with the abduction of another man in Rabat can be traced back to a car hire business empire with a host of negative online reviews from customers.

Some of the men are involved with each other in a complex web of companies that sell luxury second-hand cars, are involved in the car hire business and possibly property.

Christian Borg (right) and Tyson Grech are partners in the car hire business (Photo:Facebook)

Christian Borg, 28, from Swieqi, Thorne Mangion, 27, from Qormi, Tyson Grech 26, from Isla, Burton Azzopardi, 20, from Bormla and Jeremy Borg, 20, from Qormi were arrested and charged after the abducted man escaped and told his story to the police.

The victim recounted in court last Friday how he was beaten, threatened with having his fingers cut off, and having his sister raped.

Christian Borg (right) and Tyson Grech are partners in the car hire business (Photo:Facebook)

Christian Borg and Tyson Grech are very close friends and partners in the car hire business. On social media they are seen bonding over some of the most expensive cars and going on holidays together.

Grech is well known with the police, having been arrested and eventually acquitted of an attempted hold-up in Paceville. But in a separate case, he has been sentenced to six years in prison for rape – but the case is being appealed.

Tyson Grech posing with a lion on a rooftop (Photo: Facebook)

Grech is the director of Grech Rental Ltd. On social media, he can be seen at the wheel of his expensive cars or posing with a lion on a rooftop.

But the web of companies in which Grech is involved also extends to Cyprus. Princess & Maze Holdings is a company registered in Cyprus, but is described as a branch of Grech Rental Ltd. This Cypriot company is under the directorship of Christian Borg.

Flaunting wealth

Christian Borg is also a recidivist. In 2015 he was found guilty of breaking car hire laws, when changing the car registration plates from one car to the other and using unauthorised number plates. In 2021 he was found guilty of perjury, when offering false testimony in court.

Borg flaunts his wealth openly on social media. He owns highly expensive cars and exotic animals. In one picture he is seen driving a Lamborghini with a lion cub on his lap.

Christian Borg (Photo:Facebook)

According to the Malta Business Registry, Borg is director of No Deposit Cars Malta Ltd, Zing Cabs Ltd, Zing Rental Ltd, Princess Holdings Ltd, Princess Operations Ltd, Princess Construction Ltd, co-director of Princess & Maze Holdings Limited (registered in Cyprus) and shareholder of his father’s company RCMJ Company Ltd.

He is also behind franchises like Gold Car Rental and Sicily by Car Malta. Borg also owns two car-hire showrooms, No Deposit Cars Malta in Qormi, and Easy Finance Motor House in Burmarrad.

Gold Car rental is wholly owned by Antoine Borg but has as its director, 25-year-old Luke John Milton, a business partner of Christian Borg.

In 2021, Milton was charged with fraudulently obtaining $700,000 from a car dealer and storing them in a crypto wallet. Before this incident Milton used to be the director of most companies, currently owned by Borg.

Milton is also co-accused with the other five of the Rabat abduction incident. He is yet to be charged, as he is currently in hospital.

In a video uploaded online in 2020, Borg and Milton were seen threatening and assaulting two men, after an altercation on the road. The two men, of African origin, couldn’t move their car, as it was blocked by a vehicle, parked in the middle of the road. After tooting their horn at the driver of the car, this led to a hostile confrontation with a group of men, including Borg, Milton and some of their showroom colleagues.

The victims started filming the incident and Milton is seeing carrying a metal rod in his hand and arguing with one of the men. Borg is heard calmly refusing to move the car, before aggressively hitting the phone of the person filming, and uttering foul language at him.

Online reviews raise questions

The internet offers testimony to many negative experiences of customers of No Deposit Cars Malta, Easy Finance Motor House Burmarrad, Gold Car Malta and Sicily By Car Malta.

The reviews are terrible with many accusing the companies of cheating, fraud and scams. Many also warn readers to stay away from their operations, calling Borg and others, “criminals” and “dangerous people”.

Terrible reviews for Borg's companies are all over the internet

Christian Borg and his former associate Ray Bezzina were behind the Green Motion car hire franchise in Malta, but the international franchise later terminated the contract. “Despite our best efforts, the behaviour of the former franchisees and their attitude and treatment of Green Motion’s customers became intolerable and was not representative of the tremendous service and value enjoyed by many Green Motion customers at our other 13 worldwide destinations,” Green Motion founder Richard Lowden had said.

When announcing the reopening of the franchise in Malta in 2014, Lowden mentioned Borg and Bezzina by name, expressing his disappointment at the way the brand was represented in Malta by them. A complaint from a customer who had his €1,500 deposit retained, even though the car had been returned in the same condition, had also featured on The Guardian.

A Facebook page titled “No Deposit Cars Malta are a Scam” has over 300 likes, and shares testimonies and details about the operations of Goldcar Malta and the Luqa and Burmarrad showrooms.

Desperate clients facing garnishee orders

MaltaToday was in recent months approached by a considerable number of customers of No Deposit Cars and Easy Finance Motor House, who have had their bank accounts frozen by garnishee orders after stopping repayments for what they claim are damaged cars.

Customers pay no direct deposit to acquire a car in a hire-purchase agreement, obliging them to pay a monthly fee for a fixed number of months, until it is totally paid for. Our sources explained how the hiccups started once the contract was signed.

One customer explained that despite making regular payments for a car, it was never delivered. After weeks of false promises, a replacement car was provided, but it was in such a bad shape, that she returned it immediately.

Eventually, the promised car arrived but it had multiple warning signs switched on and it wasn’t possible to close the car boot.

She questioned how it was possible that the car had just passed the VRT test. When she took the car to a mechanic for a report, it was confirmed that the car was pretty much damaged and broken. “When I told the mechanic where I had purchased the car from, he sounded afraid and totally refused to pen down a report,” she said.

Another mechanic confirmed the condition of the car was abysmal and agreed to provide the report, as long as he remained anonymous. The car was taken back to the showroom and the customer requested the money back, however only a replacement car was offered. Although she initially refused the exchange, her lawyer read the contract and found clauses that protect the business owner from damage claims.

“I realised I had been conned when signing the contract and I had no option but to accept the new car,” she said.

This time the car was certified in a good condition but although it had been agreed both verbally and on WhatsApp that the company would be paying for the service, they refused to do so.

Complaints were raised again, and this time our source insisted on not signing a new contract for the car. Luke Milton asked for the car back and it was picked up by his colleagues. The customer however was taken to court and had her bank account frozen over “missed payments”. According to the garnishee order, six payments are due.

Faulty engine

Another person who approached this newspaper explained how he had entered into a hire-purchase agreement for a car at the No Deposit Cars showroom. When he went to collect the car, he was told this was not available anymore, but when he refused a different one, he was told the €600 deposit was not refundable.

“I had no choice but to accept a different car model, but as soon as I switched it on, the check engine light turned on. I immediately called them and I was promised they would be paying for the repairs,” he said.

The promises were never kept and after about three months, he took the car to a mechanic for a service, which he paid for out of his own pocket. However, the check engine light turned on again but when he tried to get through to the company, no one replied.

After three days he went to the Burmarrad showroom, but he was told to go to Qormi for a repair appointment. Once in Qormi, he was told no one could help him and he was sent to Burmarrad again.

“I was being sent from one place to another, every time telling me they couldn’t do anything about the car. Every time there was someone new at the showroom and I had to explain everything again each time,” he said.

The car went dead a few days later and once again they refused to make good for the repairs and he ended up paying them €400 to repair the engine.

Once again, he was told he had to wait for at least a month for the car to be ready, and when he complained he was offered a new car. The car provided ended up being a different one.

“The car was in a disastrous condition, with scratches all over the body. It was even missing a side mirror,” he said.

To his surprise, he was told the monthly payments had to start over, despite having had paid all the prior monthly instalments. One day when he went to pick up the car, he did not find it in its parking spot and he went to the police to file a report.

At the showroom they denied they had picked up the car but days later they called him, telling him they had collected the car. They insisted they had the right to pick up the car whenever they wanted to.

Luke Milton told him he needed to pay €1,100 to cancel the contract, which he did.

In October he received a letter from court ordering him to pay for 16 monthly instalments and his bank account was frozen with a garnishee order.

Many other testimonies confirm the above stories, with many other customers complaining from lack of communication, hidden fees, false promises and even threats.

Courts siding with contract clauses

Most of the “victims” who shared their stories with this paper, have been taken to court and are faced with a garnishee order because of missed payments. The court sided with Borg’s companies most of the time and ordered the customers to honour the contract and pay any outstanding amount.

MaltaToday obtained copies of contracts with No Deposit Cars Malta and analysed the lengthy clauses that are listed. The contracts state the cars remain in the possession of the company, until every payment has been effected. They have very strict clauses that state payments have to be affected monthly within a three-day period from due date. Failure to do so leads to hefty daily fines.

The hire-purchase contract contains strict clauses, which allow the showroom owner to repossess the car, in case of a breach of contract (Photo: an actual copy of a contract with No Deposit Cars Malta)

Multiple sources have explained how their car had gone missing without any warning, finding out that this was taken by the company itself. The contracts stipulate that the cars might be equipped with a GPS tracking device, allowing the company to track and repossess the vehicle, upon reasonable suspicion that the agreement was breached.

Breaches include failure to affected payments within a month from the due date and failure to notify the company of any third-party use of the car.

Once the vehicle is repossessed, the company is under no obligation to return the same car, even once all outstanding payments would have been settled.

Proximity to the Labour Party

In the past, Prime Minister Robert Abela served as legal adviser to Borg. An image uploaded on social media shows Borg in Castille square, next to a car with Abela’s face stitched to the bonnet, following Abela’s election as prime minister in January 2020. “One of my best legal advisers, good friend and now Prime Minister. Proud day,” said Borg.

Christian Borg celebrating Robert Abela's election as Prime Minister (Photo: Facebook)

Borg is also a close friend and a business associate of Joseph Camenzuli, a photographer who offers his services to the Labour Party. It appears Camenzuli is also an avid exotic animal enthusiast, with his social media profile showing him nursing and posing with various tigers and lions.

But the closeness of the two was evident in court, last week when Camenzuli acted as a third-party guarantee for Borg, saying he knew him for five years and could vouch for him.

In posts on social media, Camenzuli is also seen advertising No Deposit Cars Malta and Sicily By Car Malta.

In a Facebook post Camenzuli uploaded a picture of the Sicily By Car staff, writing “We deliver, you drive in comfort.” Despite the use of the word ‘we’, Camenzuli does not appear in any of the companies linked to Christian Borg.

Sicily By Car disassociates itself from Christian Borg

Meanwhile, Italian company Sicily By Car has said it was unaware of Christian Borg’s history and actions when it entered into a franchise agreement with Princess Holding.

It disassociated itself from Borg’s actions, insisting it had nothing to do with the wrongdoing being alleged.

“Sicily By Car spa declares not to know the events narrated in your report; does not know the past history of Mr Christian Borg and is completely unconnected to any of the facts reported in the article. Sicily By Car is a leading company in the car rental industry, known throughout Italy, of great seriousness and prestige,” the company said.

The Italian company confirmed that in Malta it had a franchise agreement with Princess Holding, whose legal representative is Borg.

“Sicily By Car, when signing the contract, was certainly not aware of the past of Mr Christian Borg,” the company said.

When asked whether the it would be resuming the partnership with Borg, Sicily by Car said it would be awaiting the cout verdict and would act, according to the law.