A firm owned by alleged kidnapper Christian Borg is acting “completely against the law” by claiming to have the right to track its customers by installing location sensors in their newly purchased cars.

The Qormi company No Deposit Cars Malta – a car hire-purchase business – makes customers sign contracts accepting that their car may have a GPS tracking device installed.

It says they can then be used to track customers if the company suspects they have breached the car purchase agreement.

Some 21 customers have taken the company to court for a range of complaints, including employing unfair terms in its customer contracts.

Christian Borg seen in one of his luxury cars with a large cat cub.

Borg is facing separate criminal charges for allegedly abducting a man last year.

According to Information and Data Protection Commissioner Ian Deguara, the data tracking clauses in the contract break data protection laws.  He said the clauses are “absolutely abnormal... not acceptable... [and] very invasive”.

When consulted, Deguara said the terms used in the contract run contrary to the provisions of the General Data Protection Regulation, an EU law introduced in 2018 designed to safeguard personal data.

Responding to a section of the contract in which the purchaser must agree that the right to track the vehicle is “not considered to be in breach” of GDPR, Deguara characterised the wording as “against the rights outlined in the EU charter”.

The contract stating that the car may have a GPS tracking device installed.

“It doesn’t mean that if you put something in the contract it’s legal,” he added, noting that even legal use of GPS tracking – in a company vehicle, for example – requires car users to be able to deactivate the tracking while on a break or at home.

'I was ruined in multiple ways by the company'

One customer had paid No Deposit Cars Malta over €20,000 when the company repossessed her car from her place of work.

Assuming the car had been stolen, she went to the police, who, after being told the car was a hire-purchase vehicle from the company, reportedly told her, “they always do this”.

Describing feeling “ruined in multiple ways” by the company, she questioned why the business is still being allowed to operate.

Contracts shown to Times of Malta state the company can repossess vehicles “at any time, any place without any prior notice to the user” if it has “reasons to believe” the user is acting negligently.

When queried, the Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority (MCCAA) said these terms “may potentially be deemed unfair”.

Customers have also raised red flags about the way the company offers insurance.

Customer Daniel Febres told Times of Malta that he had been supplied with an insurance policy document in the name of company director Joseph Camenzuli after paying €900 for coverage.

Camenzuli, a former photographer for the Labour Party and Joseph Muscat, assumed directorship of No Deposit Cars Malta following a handover from Christian Borg, who remains the sole shareholder in the company.

While the supplied insurance document covers ‘other drivers’ of the vehicle, these are limited to those in Camenzuli’s employ aged 25 or older. Febres is aged 19.

Despite having paid for one year of coverage, the insurance document provided to him expires in June, six months after he paid for the policy.

A certificate of motor insurance issued by the car company.

Since the start of the hire-purchase agreement in early January, Febres has yet to receive a valid insurance document, placing him in a position where should he drive the car, he would be doing so illegally.

Febres, a Venezuelan national, told Times of Malta he never expected to have this experience in Malta.

“I left Venezuela for a reason... these sorts of things are not supposed to happen in Europe,” he said.

While Febres has sought help from the MCCAA, he says they told him that although they can attempt to apply pressure on the company, previous attempts to do so have been unsuccessful.

When asked for comment, a police spokesperson told Times of Malta that while they could not comment on specific cases, “the police assist all people who file a report to the extent allowed by law”.

When contacted through his lawyer, Borg declined to comment.

Repeated attempts to contact Camenzuli were unsuccessful.