A man who stands charged with committing acts of money laundering cashed some €6.2 million in cheques and deposited the money in the accounts belonging to the company which employed him, a police inspector told a court on Wednesday.
James Turney told Magistrate Natasha Galea Sciberras that although Shawn Higgins cashed the cheques that were issued in his name, the money was always deposited into the bank accounts of Petroplus, the company for which he worked.
Higgins stands charged with facilitating money laundering for his bosses, fuel trader Gordon Debono and his wife, Yvette, through their roles as directors of 11 companies, all of which were listed as defendants and have had freezing orders imposed on them.
The companies are: Hi-Low Properties Ltd, Petroplus Ltd, KB Investments Ltd, KB Lines Ltd, Seabras Ltd, Petrobunkers Ltd, Oil and Ship Ltd, Gorge Ltd, S-Cape Yacht Charter Ltd, S-Cape Ltd, and Yves Ltd.
Gordon Debono alone stands accused in his capacity as a company officer of Petroplus, previously known as Tiko Tiko Ltd, of making false declarations to auditors, destroying or falsifying official documents and fraudulently disposing of documents.
As the compilation of evidence against Higgins got under way, police inspector Turner confirmed under cross-examination that Higgins’ lifestyle was commensurate with that of a normal employee. He also confirmed that Higgins always insisted that he did not make “one cent” from the cheques he was cashing and depositing into the company’s accounts with APS bank.
Turner said that during police investigation, they had seen payments of between €5,000 and €500,000 addressed to Higgins “which did not make sense”.
The inspector said Higgins was also advertising vehicles which investigators found belonged to Gordon Debono. He said he was selling them for Debono together with some yachts. A Mini and a VW Bug were sold for around €20,000, said the inspector, while a BMW 1 Series was also sold but no details of the price were available to the police.
Higgins told the police he had asked Debono whether he was doing anything illegal but the reply he was given was that there nothing illegal in what he was doing.
Asked whether Higgins was living a lavish lifestyle or had acquired assets which did not tally with his post as an employee of Petroplus, the inspector replied in the negative.
A representative of Transport Malta testified about the registration of a cabin cruiser registered in Higgins’ name and which had been purchased this year.
At the end of the sitting, the court heard submissions on bail but the prosecution vehemently opposed the request, insisting that investigations were still under way and that there were civilian witnesses who still had to testify. Some others were being spoken to by the police and some were on police bail.
Magistrate Galea Sciberras denied the request at this stage.
Lawyers Franco Debono and Amadeus Cachia appeared for Higgins.
Inspectors Joseph Xerri, Omar Caruana and James Turner are prosecuting, together with lawyers Elaine Mercieca and Cinzia Azzopardi Alamango from the office of the AG.