Two Allied Newspapers Group officials plead not guilty to fraud, money laundering; granted bail

Allied Group managing director Michel Rizzo and the company’s former financial controller Claude Licari have been charged with money laundering and fraud.

The pair were arraigned in court on Thursday as part of a sprawling police investigation following the conclusion of a magisterial inquiry.

They were granted bail and spared from having their personal assets frozen. However, the assets of Progress Press, the printing subsidiary of the Allied Group, were frozen. Investigations were led by the police’s Financial Crimes Investigation Department.

Several others were charged in separate proceedings last month, including former Allied director Vince Buhagiar and former prime minister Joseph Muscat’s chief of staff Keith Schembri.

Rizzo, 56, and Licari, 41, were charged in relation to a grant Progress Press received from Malta Enterprise. Licari has since left the company.

The alleged criminal acts happened between 2013 and March 2019. They were accused of fraud, conspiracy to commit a crime punishable by imprisonment, false declaration to a public authority, forgery and money laundering to the detriment of Malta Enterprise.

They pleaded not guilty with Rizzo insisting he was “definitely not guilty”.

The magisterial inquiry led by Josette Demicoli had probed allegations that Schembri paid kickbacks to Buhagiar and former Allied Group managing director Adrian Hillman over a multi-million euro deal to purchase printing machinery from his company Kasco. However, it also touched on a grant that Progress Press had received from Malta Enterprise.

In court, the prosecution led by inspectors Anne-Marie Xuereb, Joseph Xerri, Lianne Bonello and Ian Camilleri, asked the court to freeze the accused’s assets and deny them bail.

Defence lawyers Roberto Montalto and Joe Giglio objected to the freezing of the personal assets of the accused, insisting that their personal wealth was fully justified.

The lawyers insisted that the accused had cooperated with the police, so much so that one of the inspectors who testified said that Rizzo had provided more documentation than was requested of him during interrogations.

The lawyers also asked for bail to be given but the prosecution objected.

Magistrate Charmaine Galea was convinced that there was no fear of tampering with evidence and granted the two men bail on condition that they sign a bail book twice weekly and observe a curfew. They are not allowed to approach the Birkirkara offices of Progress Press and prevented from approaching the coast. Bail was granted against a deposit of €20,000 and a personal guarantee of €50,000.

The magistrate ruled that the assets belonging to Progress Press be frozen and ordered the sequestration in the hands of third parties of all the property belonging to the company.