Updated 11.15am

Magistrate Elaine Rizzo has ordered a magisterial inquiry into allegations involving No Deposit cars and its directors.

The decision was made after an application by several clients of the company against Christian Borg, Joe Camensuli, Luke Milton, Thorne Mangion, James Spiteri and Tyson Grech.

In their application the clients listed alleged illegalities including money laundering, fraud, involvement in a criminal association, aggravated theft, violence against private individuals, stalking, VAT evasion and computer misuse.

One of the applicants recalled an episode which took place while driving through Naxxar one day in March 2021.

His vehicle was blocked by Milton and Mangion who forcibly dragged him out of the car he had acquired on hire purchase from the company. They drove off in his car, telling him that he was late on payments.

Next day, when he turned up at the company's offices explaining that he had fallen back on some payments because of COVID-19 and lockdown, he was told that the “contract is now cancelled, go home.”

The woman for whom that car had been purchased received a letter from Princess Holdings saying that she owed them “lots of money.” She was so scared that she went and paid the sum “up to the last cent,” even though certain payments were not owed.

Another episode referred to in the application allegedly took place some six years ago.

The applicants claimed that Milton and Borg had instructed two men, a Serbian and a Maltese, to kidnap a Maltese youth to force him into signing some bills of exchange.

The two hitmen pounced upon the youth while he was walking in the street, dumped him into the luggage boot of their car, tied his hands and placed a cover over his head.

The youth was taken to an Mqabba garage where he was tied to a chair, beaten and ultimately forced to sign 18 bills of exchange for €18,000.

(In a separate case in January last year, Christian Borg, Thorne Mangion, Tyson Grech were among five men accused of abduction, holding the victim against his will, stealing up to €1,000 in cash, stealing a mobile phone, criminal conspiracy and making threats beyond the limits of provocation.)

It was also claimed that Borg and his associates were allegedly involved in a criminal web that included unidentified officials from LESA and Transport Malta.

That organisation was behind a number of crimes including bribery, corruption and misuse of electronic equipment, the applicants’ claimed.

Black bags stuffed with banknotes

Borg was also allegedly involved in a number of suspicious manoeuvres concerning “black bags, like garbage bags,” stuffed with cash, all euro banknotes.

This allegedly happened after 2019 when Borg would turn up outside the airport in his black Land Rover, soon to be joined by his associate Grech.

Black bags, stuffed with cash “definitely far above” the €10,000 statutory limit in terms of cash control regulations, would be transferred to Grech’s car.

This suspect operation allegedly took place once or twice a week, claimed the applicants, linking that to alleged money laundering activity by Borg and his associates.

The applicants drew a parallel to similar requests for a magisterial inquiry made by NGO Repubblika in relation to the Vitals deal and another one over alleged trading in influence in passport sales.

The application was signed by lawyers Jason Azzopardi and Kris Busietta.

Borg came to public prominence in early 2022 as a result of a separate legal issue, when he and a number of his associates were criminally charged with having abducted a man in Rabat.

The case shone a spotlight on Borg and his vast wealth, with investigators suspecting that his business operations were part of a criminal conspiracy involving money laundering and the dark web – parts of the internet that cannot be accessed through search engines.  

It then emerged that Borg had in the past been involved in a convoluted property deal with Robert Abela which netted the now-prime minister €45,000. Abela has insisted there was “nothing strange” about the deal and said it was his only business involvement with Borg.

MEP David Casa, who had also submitted an application asking the courts to order a probe into Borg and his company, said he was pleased to see the development. 

He said the court-ordered probe was yet another example of the police force failing to do its duty. 

“Citizens should not have to go to court to have criminals investigated, more so when evidence is already public. There is no justification for the police’s failure to act when the Financial Crimes Investigations Unit had been in possession of the facts for several months," he said.

"The authorities must be faster to protect citizens from criminality. Instead they protect criminals who are close to people in power”.