A forensic accountant and anti-corruption activist engaged to assist in various magisterial inquiries into suspected money laundering and other financial crimes, was in Malta recently testifying in a breach of rights case filed by Keith Schembri and his business associates.

The former OPM chief of staff, together with his father, Alfio Schembri and business associates Robert Zammit and Malcolm Scerri, were targeted in one of those inquiries investigating claims of corruption and underhand dealings between Schembri and former Allied Group managing director Adrian Hillman.

Investigations showed that Schembri allegedly filtered over €650,000 to Hillman in over thirty “suspicious transactions” between 2011 and 2015 allegedly linked to the purchase of some €5.5 million worth of new printing machinery by Progress Press, a subsidiary of Allied Newspapers, which publishes Times of Malta. 

The inquiring magistrate concluded that charges for alleged money laundering and other financial crimes were to be taken against both Schembri and his business associates as well as against Hillman.

All were subsequently charged and all are pleading not guilty in those criminal proceedings which are still ongoing.

But meanwhile, Schembri filed constitutional proceedings claiming that his fundamental rights were breached as a result of that magisterial probe.

The inquiry had taken well beyond the stipulated time limit to conclude and while still ongoing, information from the secret magisterial investigation was leaked in certain sections of the media.

Moreover, Schembri and the other applicants claimed that a foreign expert, Miroslava Milenovic, appointed to assist the magistrate in the probe was vice-president of a Serbian political party called Enough is Enough which focused on corruption in Serbia.

Milenovic was not competent to give opinions on her findings to the magistrate whose assessment was not impartial, the applicants said, claiming that these and other “errors” in the course of the inquiry breached their right to a fair hearing.

Milenovic, who had long been summoned to testify in the constitutional proceedings ongoing before the First Hall, Civil Court, recently took the witness stand.

She explained that since 2014, she had been engaged as an expert by the Council of Europe and the United Nations in relation to financial crime investigations in various countries.

In 2015 she was working in Saudi Arabia for a company offering advice on financial transparency, when her employer received an invitation to prepare a mock trial about money laundering in Malta.

Asked by Schembri’s lawyer, Mark Vassallo, about her links to ‘Enough is Enough,’ Milenovic described herself as “an anti-corruption activist” but stressed that she was never a member of a political party.

“Enough is Enough was never a political party but an association of like-minded people against corruption for the benefit of poor people.”

She had joined the movement in November 2016 but had never contested an election and was never a member of any political party.

Her stint as vice president of Enough is Enough was very short-lived.

Under further questioning, Milenovic confirmed that she had been considered as a potential candidate to run for the presidential elections in Serbia.

“There was an intention to form a political party but we needed 10,000 signatures which we did not have,” said the witness.

“Yes, I had meetings about that [the candidacy]. But I refused. I was never on any list between November 2016 and April 2017 [the date of elections],” Milenovic insisted when shown a copy of social media blog describing her as “a former candidate.”

Today, she still worked as a forensic accountant.

She had been engaged to assist in eight magisterial inquiries locally.

Asked to identify those inquiries, Milenovic declined, saying that she could not do so since those were not public.

Nor could she confirm how many were concluded.

Asked about the terms of her engagement and whether she was tasked directly by the inquiring magistrate or court authorities, Milenovic said she was “not a friend of the magistrates.”

She always issued invoices for her services.

Pressed further as to whether she had divulged her political background or position in Serbia when engaged to assist in this particular inquiry, Milenovic again stressed that she had not been involved in Enough is Enough since she refused to be considered to run as presidential candidate.

She became a passive member after 2017.

Then after the local elections, when Enough is Enough joined up with a right-wing political party, she resigned.

That was where her involvement ended.

The case continues.

Lawyers Edward Gatt and Mark Vassallo are assisting the applicants.

State Advocate lawyer Fiorella Fenech Vella represented the State Advocate, the Attorney General, the police commissioner, the Criminal Courts Registrar and the Justice Minister as respondents.

The court was presided over by Madam Justice Anna Felice.