An Italian car rental franchise has distanced itself from its Maltese operators after their involvement in an alleged kidnapping.  

Sicily by Car told Times of Malta that it wished to dissociate itself from Maltese franchise holder Christian Borg.  

Borg, 28, of Swieqi, is among a group of six men who stand accused of kidnapping a man in January and threatening to torture him and rape his sister.

Times of Malta revealed on Tuesday how Borg and two of his associates are the subjects of a money laundering investigation which is looking into how drugs may have been purchased from the dark web using cryptocurrency.  

Borg owns Princess Holdings Ltd which has since 2020 run the local franchise for the popular Sicily by Car auto-rental service.  

In a statement on Wednesday, the Italian rental company said it had no knowledge of Borg’s alleged activity and that this was in no way related to its own operations. 

“Sicily by Car, when signing the contract, [with Borg] was certainly not aware of Mr Christian Borg’s past,” the company said.  

It has so far not replied to questions over whether it plans to sever ties with Borg. 

Founded in 1963, Sicily by Car has a network of more than 60 offices across Italy and a car fleet of more than 20,000 vehicles.  

In Malta it has taken the market by storm offering aggressively competitive prices.  

However, online reviews offer a dismal account of the Maltese operations.  

Past customers in Malta accuse the company of running a scam in which high premiums are charged for minimal damage to vehicles.