Plans to set up an agency dedicated to fighting organised crime have been scrapped.
A spokesman for the Finance Ministry confirmed when questioned by Times of
Largest mafia trial in decades begins in Italy, centred on group with past criminal links to Malta
15 January 2021
A disused call centre in an industrial area of Calabria, Southern Italy, has been transformed into a highly-secure courtroom for the purpose of the so-called Riniscita Scott operation – the biggest mafia trial in Italy in almost three decades that started on Wednesday.
The building will house some 355 defendants, 900 witnesses and 700 lawyers, according to news agency AFP. Allegedly, the defendants are all members of one of Italy’s four large mafia groups – the ‘Ndrangheta – which has had links to crimes in Malta in the past.
A magisterial inquiry into oil smuggling is still pending, a police inspector told the court on Wednesday.
Police inspector James Turner was testifying in the compilation of evidence against Shawn Higgins who stands charged with facilitating money laundering for his bosses, fuel trader Gordon Debono and his wife, Yvette, through their roles as directors of 11 companies, all of which were listed as defendants and have had freezing orders imposed on them.
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In a previous sitting, Magistrate Natasha Galea Sciberras heard how Higgins cashed around €6.2 million in cheques that were issued in his name. The money was deposited into the bank accounts of Petroplus, the company for which he worked.
Fuel smuggler Gordon Debono granted bail
Suspected fuel smuggler Gordon Debono and his wife granted bail
17 December 2020, 11:04am
by Matthew Agius
The suspected fuel smuggler Gordon Debono has been granted bail from money laundering charges.
Debono and his wife Yvette were released on bail for the payment of €50,000 each, and a €150,000 personal guarantee. They will have to sign a bail book twice daily.
Lawyers for Debono and his wife have cast doubt on the legitimacy of the charges against them.
Debono and his wife Yvette appeared in court before magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech for the first sitting in the compilation of evidence yesterday. The couple had been charged and remanded in custody in late November.
A couple suspected of laundering millions of euro were on Thursday granted bail against a €50,000 deposit and €150,000 personal guarantee each.
Gordon Debono and his wife Yvette spent the past three weeks under preventive custody after pleading not guilty upon their arraignment on November 25.
The couple were back in court on Wednesday afternoon for the first hearing of the compilation of evidence but following lengthy testimony by prosecuting Inspector Omar Caruana about the nature of the investigations into voluminous financial data relating to their bank accounts as well as other documents recording property transfers, no specific ‘predicate offence’ could be identified.