Angry clients have sued the widow of notary Ivan Barbara in a bid to recover some €165,000 in deposits and unpaid taxes related to property contracts. 

Ivan Barbara died of COVID-19 in April while on a trip to India with his wife Rosanne Barbara Zarb, where they were finalising the adoption of a child. 

In their court application, presented by lawyer David Bonello,  the 23 clients said that Barbara Zarb had informed them that their request to get back deposits left with her late husband would be delayed due to complications in the issuance of Barbara’s death certificate, cause by the fact that he had died in India. 

However, even after the certificate was issued, Barbara Zarb continued to react to their requests for reimbursement by saying that the “process was still underway”. Another notary who previously worked in Barbara’s office eventually informed them that Barbara Zarb had renounced her inheritance. 

In the application, the plaintiffs claimed that they have evidence that Barbara’s office continued to operate after his death and that Rosanne Barbara Zarb had “performed acts as though she was an heir and therefore had tacitly accepted her husband’s inheritance”. 

They asked the court to order Barbara Zarb to repay the money owed to them with interest. 

Driven to desperation

The clients first spoke about having their life savings in limbo in August, where some told Times of Malta that they were driven to desperation at having thousands of euros in deposit fees tied up in the situation. 

In October, Magistrate Caroline Farrugia Frendo granted the clients a magisterial inquiry into the possibility that their money had been misappropriated or used fraudulently. However, Barabara Zarb appealed this decision and called claims that she benefitted from misappropriated funds false and defamatory. 

She said that she had never met nor communicated with her husband’s clients and that the plaintiffs had made an “imaginary connection” that she and her husband carried out business together as a consequence of their marriage. 

In response, the clients said that a series of bank transfers, deposits and signed agreements proved there was a link between the two and the alleged misappropriation of funds they say has taken place. 

The appeal is currently still pending and clients are in effect still waiting for the magisterial inquiry to begin.