The police have launched a money-laundering probe into the operations of notary Ivan Barbara, who died last April after contracting COVID-19, leaving clients high and dry.

Sources said the police are speaking to clients who claim they had been defrauded by the notary with whom they had entrusted their life savings as part of the process of buying property.

Barbara’s sudden death left clients in a state of anxious limbo as they tried to recover their deposits. They are claiming that the notary had allegedly committed acts of fraud and misappropriation. According to the Notarial Council, Barbara’s widow, Rosanne, had renounced her husband’s inheritance, forfeiting any assets or responsibility for pending debt.

 It means it is unclear who the legal heir is. Sources said the police investigation is not only looking at any wrongdoing committed by the notary but also probing any potential wrongdoing by his wife and his office employee.

The police are also looking into the part played by banks and the possible lack of due diligence on their part.

The police said they could not confirm or deny if an investigation was under way, quoting the relative section of the law that precludes them from divulging such information.

Questions sent to Ms Barbara remained unanswered by the time of writing.

Barbara died as he was being airlifted back to Malta from India, just days after securing the adoption of his child.

Last month, the Notary Council had asked the attorney general to hand over any deeds and wills published by Barbara to the government’s chief notary to fast-track the process of checking for potential breach of contract.

The government’s chief notary, Keith Francis German, was appointed as the notary delegate of all deeds relating to Barbara with effect from August 16.

This means that the Office of the Notary to Government had initiated the process of collecting all contracts and wills that were published by Barbara for the purpose of conserving them at the notarial archives.

Meanwhile, the magistrate’s court has yet to decree on a request by several of the notary’s clients for a magisterial inquiry into the notary’s actions and those of his wife. The request was made by three clients who said they had handed Barbara cheques amounting to €30,650 in relation to promise-of-sale agreements they had signed.

They asked for a magisterial inquiry to be appointed to investigate whether their funds were misappropriated or fraudulently used.

Through their lawyer, David Bonello, the clients are insisting that the money they deposited with notary Barbara should have been deposited in client bank accounts and eventually passed on to the seller when the final contracts of sale were signed.