At least €200,000 were channelled through Zenith Finance, formerly MFSP, from British Virgin Islands offshore firms owned by former OPM chief of staff Keith Schembri and Nexia BT's Brian Tonna, a court heard on Wednesday.
This detail emerged during court proceedings against former Zenith directors Matthew Pace and Lorraine Falzon who on Wednesday were back in court as the compilation of evidence against them and the company they represented, continued.
Both are pleading not guilty to a series of financial crimes, including money laundering and forgery of documents and have been granted bail pending proceedings.
A court-appointed accountancy expert tasked with administering and preserving the assets of Zenith Finance Limited, presented his findings on Wednesday, however, his overview was banned from publication in light of sensitive information it contained.
Hector Spiteri, appointed by Madam Justice Edwina Grima on April 13 as administrator of Zenith, took the witness stand, confirming under oath his report, containing numerical information narrated in English.
He had been tasked with preparing a list of assets within one month of his appointment.
The sitting revolved mostly around a series of witnesses from the financial crimes investigation unit, bank representatives and forensic experts involved in the March arrests.
Emanuel Schembri, a manager at FCID involved in the task force that analysed financial transactions and bank accounts, gave an overview of his findings.
Some €600,000 were channelled through an account opened on behalf of Katrin Bondin Carter from Nexia BT.
Another €200,000 came from two MFSP clients accounts, namely €106,000 from Colson Services Ltd and €94,000 from SPX Services Ltd, both offshore firms registered in the British Virgin Islands owned by Keith Schembri and Brian Tonna respectively.
A transfer of €128,000 was traced from BT International Ltd to Eximus in Dubai.
Two transactions from BTI Management Ltd to SPX involved a cheque for €37,000 and another transfer of €68,000 “for reasons unknown,” the witness said.
A representative of the capital transfer duty unit, Josette Galdes, reported four public deeds and five share transfers by Falzon throughout 2008 up to 2020.
There were three deeds and seven share transfers in respect of Pace, but as for Zenith, the officer reported that “nothing was found.”
Four local bank representatives supplied information about accounts held by the accused.
Two police officers who were also meant to testify on Wednesday failed to turn up, with the prosecution informing the court that the witnesses were currently abroad.
That information prompted a sharp retort by Magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech who observed that no application had been filed to justify this absence which effectively meant that precious time allocated for the two-hour sitting would be wasted.
The case was deferred to June.
AG lawyers Elaine Mercieca Rizzo and Andrea Zammit led the prosecution.
Lawyers Edward Gatt and Mark Vassallo were defence counsel.