A court has drastically reduced a freezing order against a senior official at financial advisory firm Nexia BT.
In a decree handed down on Wednesday, Magistrate Donatella Frendo limited a freezing order on Katrin Bondin Carter's financial assets to €5,000, effectively granting the accused unhindered access to her bank accounts.
Prior to the decree, all of her assets had been frozen and she was limited to being able to withdraw €13,000 annually.
Bondin Carter stands accused of money laundering and financial crimes, alongside Nexia BT partners Brian Tonna, Karl Cini and Manuel Castagna.
Once the go-to consultants for the Labour government, Nexia BT was effectively shuttered in 2020 in regulatory action in response to the passports inquiry.
The company, its former top officials and Keith Schembri, the prime minister's former chief of staff, were all charged with money laundering last year.
During the compilation of evidence, prosecuting Inspector Ian Camilleri confirmed that police investigators had traced no illicit funds accrued to Bondin Carter.
Investigations showed that Bondin Carter had only received small amounts of money, to the tune of €400 or so, by way of reimbursement of sums she would have forked out in the course of her work.
Asked by defence lawyer Franco Debono whether Bondin Carter had derived any illicit gains, Camilleri confirmed that there was none.
His testimony was called for in view of an application requesting the variation of the freezing order targeting all her assets.
Debono requested the court limit the freezing order to a “nominal” amount of €5,000.
Freezing orders cannot be lifted completely at this stage in legal proceedings, but the lawyer said that as originally imposed, the freezing order created “unnecessary hardship on the accused”.
AG lawyer Antoine Agius Bonnici filed a written reply to the request on behalf of the prosecution.
In her decree, Magistrate Frendo Dimech explained that although the law did not provide for the lifting of the order pending proceedings, a variation of such freezing order was permissible at law.
She agreed that the burden of the full freezing order was unjust, especially given that there was no indication that the accused had enjoyed the proceeds of crime.
Lawyers Stephen Tonna Lowell is counsel to Tonna and Cini.
Lawyers Michael Sciriha and Matthew Xuereb are counsel to Castagna.
Lawyer Giannella de Marco is counsel to KBT Holdings Ltd.
Lawyers Franco Debono and Francesca Zarb are counsel to Bondin Carter.