A temping agent who allegedly conned over 250 third country nationals into paying for a work contract in Malta which never materialised was remanded in custody upon arraignment on Sunday.
Immigration police pressed charges against Jonathan James Borg, 42, from Balzan as the suspect behind the racket whereby some 280 third-country nationals, mainly Indian, entered Malta, lured by promises of a job and accommodation.
Their hopes vanished into thin air once they reached their destination.
Matters came to a head when Borg’s boss at the company where he worked as an accountant began to receive calls from total strangers complaining that he had not kept his promise to provide them with a job and adequate accommodation in Malta.
Police investigations ultimately revealed that those third country nationals (TCNs) had arrived in Malta on the strength of false travel and employment documents.
Those documents were allegedly traced to Borg.
Each of the migrants allegedly paid some €4,000 only to end up with no job and nowhere to go.
Upon arraignment on Sunday, Borg pleaded not guilty to being involved in a human trafficking conspiracy for personal gain, assisting foreign workers to enter Malta in breach of immigration laws, unauthorised use of electronic data, tampering with such data, software or documentation as well as document fraud.
He was also charged with breaching an attachment order issued in terms of anti-money laundering legislation and with allegedly committing the said offences while under two suspended sentences handed down in 2019.
Borg was charged with relapsing.
He pleaded not guilty.
A request for bail was objected to by the prosecution in view of the fact that various civilian witnesses were still to testify and besides, the accused had allegedly breached previous court orders.
Parte civile lawyer Charles Mercieca further noted that these TCNs had traveled to Malta for a job that did not exist and there was the possibility that others were still on their way.
Borg’s lawyer, Ezekiel Psaila, rebutted that not all applications referred to by the prosecution had been upheld and some of those foreign workers had since returned to their country.
The prosecution also pointed out that tracking down the accused’s address had delayed investigations.
In a previous case, Borg had cited his parents’ address.
But it was obvious that he did not live there. His actual address was tracked down by the police through a food delivery app.
After hearing submissions, the court, presided over by Magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech, turned down the request, deeming the accused not sufficiently trustworthy and also because a number of witnesses were still to testify.
The court upheld a request for a freezing order over all assets of the accused.
AG lawyer Nathaniel Falzon and Inspector Karl Roberts prosecuted. Lawyer Ezekiel Psaila was defence counsel. Lawyers Gianluca Caruana Curran and Charles Mercieca are representing the company.