Updated 2.20pm
Six companies owned by former OPM chief of staff Keith Schembri have filed an urgent court application asking for permission to temporarily unfreeze their assets, saying they must pay salaries to 100 employees.
The application was filed on Saturday before Mr Justice Aaron Bugeja. The court was asked to consider the request as urgent, given that Tuesday is the end of the month and employees due to be paid their wages that day.
Firms belonging to Schembri had their assets frozen last Monday after a court issued an attachment order to that effect. The order listed 91 people and companies, including Schembri and his accountants at Nexia BT, Brian Tonna and Karl Cini, and ordered the freeze on the suspicion of money-laundering offences.
Police Commissioner Angelo Gafà on Friday confirmed that four people were arrested between Monday and Tuesday and that all four were granted police bail as investigations continue.
Schembri, Tonna, and Cini were arrested on suspicion of money laundering after their assets were frozen by court order following the conclusion of an inquiry into financial crimes. They were released on police bail after interrogation. The identity of the fourth person remains unknown.
The attachment order was issued by madam justice Edwina Grima at the request of the attorney general.
In the application, the Schembri-owned companies argued that the freezing order had had catastrophic effects “not only on the companies and their owner but on third parties who are completely extraneous to the investigation”.
Lawyers Edward Gatt and Mark Vassallo, who also represent Schembri personally, further argued that it was yet to be determined whether the freezing order was in line with the conclusions of the magisterial inquiry into the claims of corruption, kickbacks and money laundering, concluded by Magistrate Natasha Galea Sciberras.
They asked the court to see for itself whether the court’s attachment order was justified or disproportionate on third parties, who all ended up as victims of this case.
The lawyers therefore asked the court to hear their submissions with urgency and subsequently authorise the release of a set amount for the companies to be able to issue salary payments under the watchful eye of a court-appointed administrator.