Nine men, including Keith Schembri, and two women will be charged in connection with two magisterial inquiries linked to a money-laundering investigation at 5pm today. 

Police confirmed the detail in a statement today, explaining that around 20 companies are involved in the money laundering operation.

The group of people will appear before magistrate Charmaine Galea at 5pm. Lovin Malta will be following the sitting live.  The 11 people will be charged on accusations related to money laundering, fraud, and corruption.

The people have remained unnamed. However, several people were brought in for questioning earlier today.

These included Schembri’s father, Alfie; his wife, Josette, Malcolm Scerri; who is the CEO of Kasco Group; Matthew Pace and Lorraine Falzon of Zenith; Brian Tonna and Karl Cini of Nexia BT; and Vince Buhagiar, the managing director of Allied Newspapers Ltd before Hillman. 

The potential charges follow an inquiry into a leaked Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit report which found that Schembri had channelled over €650,000 to Hillman in suspicious payments between 2011 and 2015 in a deal which saw his company, Kasco, supply a printing press to Times of Malta in 2018.

It is believed that the funds were transferred via a number of offshore companies and accounts based in Gibraltar and Switzerland, as well as the infamous Pilatus Bank.

The inquiry was called following a request by former PN leader Simon Busuttil in 2017. Last week, Schembri and others tried to file a constitutional case to annul the inquiry, led by Magistrate Josette Demicoli, claiming that they were unfairly treated.

However, it seems that the charges could be also related to an inquiry related to a suspected passport kickbacks scheme between Schembri and Nexia BT’s Brian Tonna.

You can follow all the latest developments on Lovin Malta’s live blog. 

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