By Monique Agius

Copyright timesofmalta

A car dealer who stands charged in connection with the Identità racket which saw third country nationals fraudulently obtaining residence permits, was ordered to pay €129,000 representing damages after defrauding and misappropriating the funds of Adventure Camping and Leisure Co. Limited. The company and its director and shareholder, Vince Vella, sued Bernard Attard and his parents Calcedonio and Mary Theresa, also known as Marthese, Attard before the First Hall of the Civil Court. The plaintiffs sought to be paid for damages as a result of fraud and misappropriation carried out by the defendants, and sought to recoup the money that had been paid to Bernard Attard and his father. Vella also sought to recover €20,000 for a mobile home that Attard took from the Aħrax camping site managed by the company to his home. Adventure Camping and Leisure Co. Limited leases a camping site at Aħrax tal-Mellieħa from the Lands Authority. The site had some mobile homes on it and was slapped with an enforcement notice by the Planning Authority and was being fined daily until the irregularities are removed. Vella got to know Bernard Attard on April 4, 2023, after the latter became interested to buy a mobile home. While showing him around, Attard expressed his interest in becoming a partner in the business. Vella informed him that he was willing to sell the business for €1,800,000 or the shares. Attard said that he was interested in half the shares in the company. The pair agreed that Vella was to pay taxes due on the sale of shares and any debts until the day of the sale, while Attard had to cover the costs of the development and sanctioning of illegalities on the site. Since the site was slapped with the enforcement notice, the Lands Authority refused to renew the lease. At the time, Attard had claimed he knew an enforcement officer at the Planning Authority, who could help with this impasse. The defendant purportedly called his contact and explained the situation. Vella requested to speak to “Frank” but Attard refused to put him directly in touch with his PA contact. Attard also told Vella that if he was not going to trust him, he had no interest in becoming a partner. Between April 13 and June 16, 2023 Vella transferred €161,500 to Attard. At the same time, Attard started taking over the company, with Vella introducing the defendant to Philippe Chircop, who took care of the maintenance. In May of the same year, Vella and Attard went to the former’s tax advisor so that half of the shares could be transferred to the defendant. After carrying out a due diligence on Attard, the tax advisor said that the defendant could not buy the shares without delving into the reasons. Attard suggested that the shares could be sold to his mother and she would be employed as a manager. When asked about the woman’s source of funds, Attard claimed that his mother had inherited a sum of money and invested them in D&A Automobiles. The tax advisor knew Marthese Attard and her father as the latter had been his clien. The contract was drafted for the share transfer but it was not signed before the tax advisor. Attard took copies of the contract signed by his mother and stamped and signed by a notary to Vella, and it was signed by the plaintiff. Half the shares of the company were then transferred onto Marthese Attard. The defendant claimed that he would transfer €300,000 to Vella but the money was never transferred. Each time he was asked to pay up, he would give the defendant some excuse. Moreover, no receipts were given to show that he had indeed bought the machinery he requested money for. At that point, Vella’s tax advisor, who felt that Attard’s claims were untrue, said he could no longer assist them. He also advised Vella to rescind the share transfer contract and seek a lawyer in order to recoup the monies. The relationship turned sour when two enforcements officers from the Planning Authority came on the camping site. Vella was under the impression that the fine had been paid from the money forked out earlier. Attard had also given him a document purportedly showing that the enforcement notice was inactive. That day, the enforcement officers informed him that the €50,000 fine had not been paid and the enforcement notice was still in force. Attard and Vella had a huge fight and from there he realised that the defendant never engaged an architect to resolve the planning issues. He also discovered that Attard took a mobile home to his mother’s property without paying him for it. Vella filed a criminal complaint against Attard on June 27, 2023 with the Financial Crimes Investigation Department. He also filed civil action to recover the money including the money due on the mobile home and the money paid to the defendants as a result of the fraud. From the €161,500 given to Attard, €32,300 were transferred to bank accounts in his father’s name. The court found that the money was not used to pay the enforcement fine, and that no sanctioning of the illegalities took place. Neither did the man engage the architect or pay the Lands Authority, and as a result, Vella and his company were not recognised as tenants. There was no evidence showing that the money forked out by Vella was used by Attard in line with his requests. While the court found that on a balance of probability, Bernard Attard defrauded Vella, this was not sufficiently proven in the case of his parents. However, since part of the sum was transferred to his father’s bank account, the court moved to order him to pay. The court also observed that while Marthese Attard received half the shares, Vella did not request to rescind the contract. Throughout the proceedings, Bernard Attard did not challenge the claim that he had €20,000 still to pay on the mobile home. The court ordered Calcedonio Attard to refund €32,300 to the plaintiff. It ordered Bernard Attard to pay €20,00 for the mobile home and ordered him to pay €129,200 in damages. The amounts are subject to legal interest which started running from July 17, 2023 until the day the amounts are paid. Mr Justice Henri Mizzi presided over the First Hall of the Civil Court. Lawyer Jason Grima appeared for the plaintiffs.