A request for the extradition of Adrian Hillman has been sent to UK authorities but the process to bring him to Malta could drag on for several weeks.
Times of Malta is informed Maltese authorities sent a detailed request to their UK counterparts last week.
Sources said the Maltese police and State Prosecutor’s Office have not yet received a reply.
The process to bring Hillman to Malta to face criminal charges could be a long one, with many legal steps necessary before UK authorities arrest and extradite a person on British soil at a foreign law enforcement agency's request.
Times of Malta reached out to Hillman, however he declined to comment. The former Allied Group managing director has been residing in the south-east London suburb of New Cross for a number of years with his family and is pursuing studies at Goldsmiths University of London.
He is expected to face charges of money laundering and graft in Malta.
The charges follow a magisterial inquiry into the purchase of three multi-million euro printing machines by Progress Press from Keith Schembri’s company Kasco Ltd a decade ago.
Schembri, together with his business associates, and financial advisors Nexia BT and Zenith Finance, formerly MFSP, are all facing a slew of criminal charges. All have been denied bail, bar Schembri’s father who was released on Monday after nine days in custody.
Vincent Buhagiar, who was chairman of Progress Press at the time of the major printing investment, has also been charged with having received backhanders from Schembri and laundering those illicit funds. He was granted bail after being charged on March 20.
Meanwhile, prosecutors have said in court that investigations in the case are still ongoing and more parties could face criminal charges.
According to a leaked Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit report, Schembri allegedly filtered over €650,000 to Hillman in over 30 “suspicious transactions” between 2011 and 2015.
Hillman was also found to have deposited €225,000 in cash into his HSBC account between January 2011 and February 2016.
The allegations of financial crime surrounding the two were first reported by journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia in 2016.
Hillman went on garden leave from Allied Newspapers and the company severed all ties with him shortly afterwards.
In May 2017, Simon Busuttil presented then magistrate, now judge, Aaron Bugeja with eight box files of documents which, he said, contained detailed proof of €650,000 in transactions from Schembri to Hillman, who at the time was at the helm of the company that publishes Times of Malta, among other publications.
Allied Newspapers Ltd has said it has no knowledge of the payments allegedly paid to its former managing director.