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Here’s Why Police Raided Simon Busuttil’s Sister’s House Over Adrian Delia’s ‘Forged Signatures’

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Police yesterday carried out a search at the house of the sister of former PN leader Simon Busuttil as part of an investigation into the alleged falsification of signatures made by Opposition leader Adrian Delia.

Lovin Malta is reliably informed that police officers had showed Diana Busuttil a warrant to search property to which her ex husband Kris Bajada, a former client of Delia, had access. Bajada doesn’t have access to the house as the couple have been separated for a number of years, but police may have been looking for evidence that had remained in the house from their married days.

However, despite carrying out an extensive search of Diana Busuttil’s documents, police left without a single piece of evidence in hand.

It is unknown whether police also raided the house of Kris Bajada, which is right next door to his ex wife’s property. However, Bajada is not in a position to assist police in their investigations at this stage as he is currently in hospital with a serious condition.

On Saturday, Delia reported company documents which allegedly include his forged signature to the police. Although the PN leader had already been in possession of these documents for a few days, he forwarded them to the police after receiving a set of questions from The Sunday Times in connection with an investigation by the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit into a Soho prostitution racket from the early 2000s.

Delia’s alleged involvement in the racket was first reported by Daphne Caruana Galizia, a few months before she was assassinated in a car bomb.

“As a citizen as well as leader of the Opposition, I have every right to know the details of any allegations in my regard, as much as I have the duty to defend my reputation against malicious attacks against me for partisan reasons, especially when they are built on documents with false signatures,” Delia said.

“I say this with the greatest of responsibility, since only a few hours ago I criticised the state capture of institutions such as the FIAU, the police corps and the Attorney General’s office, and then these allegations from the Times of Malta reached me to discredit me. These attacks are part of a campaign to weaken the Maltese institutions.”

Delia is refusing to publish these documents, arguing that he doesn’t want to jeopardise the investigation in any way. However, Lovin Malta is reliably informed that the documents themselves are legitimate and that some of them were even earthed from the MFSA Registry of Companies.

“Whoever forged Delia’s signature did so for commercial reasons,” the source said. “Their intent wasn’t to hurt him politically, as he wasn’t even involved in politics at the time, but to take advantage of a situation.”

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Former PN leader Simon Busuttil

The Sunday Times reported yesterday that the FIAU uncovered sufficient information that a Jersey bank account that Delia had used between 2001 and 2004, when he was a lawyer, could have been used to launder money from prostitution in Soho.

The deposits were allegedly made by Emanuel Bajada and his wife Eve Bajada for the benefit of companies owned by Emanuel Bajada’s brother and Adrian Delia’s former client Eucharist Bajada. Eucharist Bajada is the father of Kris Bajada, who used to be married to Diane Busuttil.

Eucharist Bajada had purchased property in Soho and rented it to his brother Emanuel and his wife Eve, who in turn sublet it to landlords who were later jailed for using the property as a brothel

Eucharist Bajada took legal action against his brother after the prostitution racket was exposed and, although Emanuel Bajada was never convicted in the UK, he and his son pleaded guilty to running brothels in Sliema and St Julian’s.

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An apartment in Soho that was used as a brothel

According to The Sunday Times, the FIAU’s suspicions were raised by the nature of the deposits into Delia’s bank account. A total of £346,000 (around half a million euros) was deposited into it, with deposits fluctuating from £400 to £16,000 and averaging £13,000. The irregular nature of the deposits meant they were unlikely to have been rent payment, while the average deposit of £13,000 was believed to be too high for rent in the early 2000s.

However, police are reportedly not confident that their investigation will amount to much, particularly as the alleged crimes took place so long ago.

“At this point it depends largely on other jurisdictions – some of which are very secretive – handing over the necessary information, as well as probing a 15-year-old prostitution racket which allegedly operated in another country,” police sources told The Sunday Times.

READ NEXT: Delia Slams Justice Minister For Claiming To Know Nothing About Fresh Pilatus Bank Inquiry

Tim is interested in the rapid evolution of human society and is passionate about justice, human rights and cutting-edge political debates. You can follow him on Instagram or Twitter/X at @timdiacono or reach out to him at [email protected]

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