Rebels MC president Alex Vella plans High Court appeal on visa ban

The Maltese boss of Australia’s largest outlaw motorcycle club, is planning one final appeal in the country’s highest court to overturn a court decision that upheld his visa cancellation.

Rebels Motorcyle Club president Alex Vella, 62, had his visa cancelled in June 2014 on “character grounds” while on holiday in Malta. He has since been unable to return to Australia, where his family is, and in March 2015 lost a court battle to overturn the immigration minister’s visa ban.

He now lives in Malta after 47 years living in Australia, where he migrated to with his parents at a young age.

Three Federal Court judges upheld the visa ban by dismissing Vella’s claims that the minister’s refusal to publish confidential correspondence upon which he decided to cancel his visa, was unconstitutional.

According to court documents, minister Scott Morrison’s decision relied on detailed intelligence provided by an Australian Crime Commission-led task force ‘Attero’ on motorcycle club crime, claiming that Vella has overseen the expansion of the Rebels into the largest one in Australia.

Attero investigators claim that under Vella’s leadership the Rebels have engaged in drug dealing, money laundering, serious assaults, kidnapping, extortion, firearms offences, threatening law enforcement officers and intimidation of court witnesses. It is believed the gang has more than 2,000 members across the country.

Vella’s most serious conviction was for a traffickable quality of marijuana found at his home in 1990, which earned him 18 months of periodic detention, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

The High Court will be Vella’s last chance of appeal.