Man in €20 million cash racket case has frozen assets reduced by over €5 million

A man under investigation for allegedly being involved in a €20 million racket has had the total amount of assets frozen against him reduced by over €5 million. 

Libyan national Hesham Zayed had €196 million of his assets frozen by the court.

Following Thursday's decision, that amount was reduced to €191 million.

The court decision came after Zayed's defence counsel argued that some of his assets were frozen twice, and in one instance, the prosecution made an error in the conversion from Danish Kroner to Euros. 

The case dates back to December 2021, when four Libyans - Zayed, Essam Mohamed Edernawi, Khaled Baely and Hdidan Tamer Ramadan Ali – were charged with money laundering and tax evasion amounting to €20 million. 

Five companies represented by Zayed were also charged: PHF Ltd, UGT Company Ltd, Express Route Company Ltd, HZ Medical Equipment and Health Services Company Ltd and H&H Investments Ltd. 

Police had said that the accused were travelling in and out of Malta with cash allegedly linked to the purchase of valuable merchandise, including luxury vehicles, jewellery and branded clothing. 

Most of the money was being taken to Turkey, the police said. 

Zayed, Edernawi and the company's defence team had previously argued that their clients had been trapped by the police and customs officers who had been following the large sums of money without saying anything. 

The case is expected to go to trial. 

Just over a year later, a fifth suspect, Murad Ali Al Forgani, was charged over his suspected involvement in the racket. 

Defence lawyers Arthur Azzopardi and Jacob Magri, who are representing Zayed, Edernawi, and the companies, filed a court application asking the court to revoke all freezing orders against them or at least reduce the amount of assets frozen to a lower amount. 

The court decided to reject all requests to revoke the freezing order or reduce the amount of assets frozen, except for one instance in Zayed’s case.  

The court had initially frozen €196.8 million of Zayed’s assets. 

The defence argued that there were four separate figures that were frozen twice for Zayed. These are: €1.92 million, $1.48 million, LD 23,844 (Libyan dinar), and £73,747. The total of this in euros amounts to around €3.3 million. 

The court agreed that the four figures were confiscated twice. 

The defence also argued that the prosecution made an error when it converted the amount of 16,359,80kr (Danish Kroner) to €2,191,191.87. The defence argued that the accurate conversion should be of €219,263.09. This marks a difference of €1.97 million. 

Therefore, the court decided to subtract the amounts frozen twice and the error made in the conversion of the other amount, limiting the freezing order against Zayed to €191,542,359 or assets of equivalent value. 

Mr Justice Neville Camilleri is presiding over the case.