Suspected oil smuggler Gordon Debono is set to pocket €1.5 million after Malta’s courts sanctioned the transfer of the massive funds between his and his wife’s offshore companies, despite attempts to stop it by Malta’s financial regulator.

Darren Debono and Gordon Debono (no familial relation) have been accused of being part of a fuel smuggling operation in the Mediterranean, and have since fallen under strong US sanctions. They were arrested in 2017 after Libyan fuel smuggler Fahmi Slim Bin Khalifa was apprehended.

A court of appeal has now ruled against the MFSA’s attempt to stop the now-defunct Satabank from paying back a €1.5 million loan, from a Dubai-based company owned by Gordon Debono’s wife, Yvette.

Essentially, the funds are being transferred from Gordon’s account to Yvette’s, even if the former’s assets are frozen.

Central to the case is a Belize company called Oil and Ship Consultancy Limited and the Dubai-based International Properties and Investments Limited. Neither company was identified in the US sanctions list.

The decision from Malta’s courts to transfer the money, it should be noted, was under an EU obligation to enforce a Cypriot court decision in 2018.

A second €1.3 million transfer will go in front of Malta’s courts later this month. The debt was recognised by a Cypriot court in June 2018.

READ NEXT: Suspected Maltese Oil Smuggler Is Moving €2.8 Million Through Offshore Companies With His Wife’s Help