Veteran lawyer and businessman Pio Valletta has been ordered by an appeals court to refund a client €300,000 that he took from her account without her consent.
Confirming a ruling by the court of first instance, the Court of Appeal presided over by Chief Justice Mark Chetcuti, has dismissed Valletta’s appeal filed by Valletta and confirmed the original sentence in its entirety, which ordered him to repay the misappropriated funds.
The case dates back to 2010 when Elnara Shorazova – the widow of Kazakh oligarch Rakhat Aliyev who was found dead in an Austrian prison under suspicious circumstances –asked Valletta to deposit €2.4 million into an account to finance a company that was being established in Austria.
It resulted, however, that Valletta had taken €900,000 from the amount and claimed it as professional fees without informing or asking for Shorazova’s consent.
A police report was lodged against Valletta claiming the misappropriation of funds.
After an out-of-court settlement, Valletta agreed to refund the money according to an agreed schedule and terms with the proviso that if he made the payments on time, he would benefit from a €300,000 discount on the €900,000 he allegedly misappropriated.
The agreement also stipulated that Shorazova would withdraw the criminal report, as well as another case filed against Valletta before the Commission for the Administration of Justice.
But after Valletta failed to uphold his end of the agreement – with the scheduled deposits being either late or missing – Shorazova filed a civil case demanding the forfeiture of Valletta’s €300,000 ‘discount’ and asking him to repay the full amount.
In his defence, Valletta said he had interpreted the agreement in a different way and argued that the €300,000 discount was to be paid as his professional fees.
The court, however, rubbished the defence by ruling Valletta had not provided any evidence to substantiate his interpretation.
The court ruled in Shorazova’s favour and ordered the lawyer to repay the funds in full and to foot all court expenses.
In 2017, Valletta had been in charge of negotiations with the government over the privatisation of the Marsa horse track.
Acting on the behalf of other shareholders, which included Hugh Morshead of the notorious cash-for-passports concessionaire Henley & Partners and Maltese contractors Schembri & Sons, known as Id-Dobbu, Valletta negotiated the €28 million project to turn the racetrack into a high-level facility.
It included the concession of public land in Marsa for 65 years to be turned into offices and shops even though this did not form part of the original Request for Proposals.
While none of that investment has so far materialised, Valletta cashed in on the deal by selling his shares to the other partners.
Hello FIAU. Hello Police. Hello Chamber of Advocates? Are you there?
They are still counting the width of their brown envelopes.
Although by now, lets face it, they are keeping count by weighing them.
Shhhhhhhhhhhh – all sound asleep!
So what’s next. Disbarred from acting in any shape or form as a lawyer?
Jghidu li min jaghmilha maz-zopp, gheluq is-sena jsir zopp bhalu.
Kemm jidher li ghandu ragun min izomm dan il-kliem quddiemu u joqghod attent ma min jaghmilha – anki jekk dan ikun professjonista ta’ haga jew ohra!
Any bets he is the next AG?
Kriminali kull fejn iddawwar wiċċek. Fejn hu Gafà? Jista’ xi ħadd imur jiġbru lil dan l-imbruljun? Mela għax isir settlement jinħafer ir-reat? Il-Kamra tal-Avukati fejnha??? Biex tiddefendi lill-Avukat tal-Istat tal-Korea ta’ Fuq kienet l-ewwel waħda….
Oh look. Once again if there is any dirty business afoot, Muscat is behind it.
Why is it that when I see Joseph Muscat overlooking the signing of some deal ‘brown envelopes’ come to my mind?
Isn’t misappropriation of funds a criminal offence? So is this guy going to be prosecuted by the Keystone Kops and disbarred ?!?!