Thomas Flohr, chairman of the government’s ‘trusted’ private jet company VistaJet, is appearing in front of the UK’s High Court where he is facing claims of fraud, abuse of a business partner’s trust and breaches of contract stemming from a company he was involved in back in 2002.
Flohr’s VistaJet made national headlines back in April 2017 when the company flew a charter flight from Malta to Baku, Azerbaijan on the night between 21 and 22 April – the same evening that Pilatus Bank chairman Ali Sadr Hasheminejad and risk manager Antoniella Gauci were filmed leaving the bank’s Ta’ Xbiex premises with suitcases filled with documents.
Flohr is now appearing before the UK High Court’s Chancery Division, where his former business partner Timothy Horlick is claiming Flohr broke a fiduciary agreement and misappropriated funds from Comprendium UK – a document management and storage company in which they were both involved in the early 2000s – for his personal gain.
Documents seen by The Shift which were submitted to the UK courts by Frontiers Capital (FCILP), Horlick’s company which invested and loaned money to Comprendium UK, claim that Flohr “leveraged the existing company structure and used its resources and personnel” to open unauthorised parallel structures in Switzerland and Germany using Comprendium’s name.
Flohr then allegedly used these companies to purchase other European technology companies and their assets “in one instance for a profit of €93 million or more at completion”.
FCILP’s court claim states that not only did Flohr keep those acquisitions hidden from his business partner and FCILP, but “he also failed to ensure any new business” for the original UK company FCILP had invested in.
In Malta, Flohr had signed a “communication and marketing” services contract between VistaJet and the Malta Tourism Authority in 2016, when former minister Edward Zammit Lewis was responsible for the MTA.
VistaJet was paid €1.5 million in advance each year for three years, totalling €4.5 million. The contract was reviewed by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) which found there was little to no tangible proof of any work done, with the MTA saying it was signed on a ‘trust’ basis.
Last May, The Shift reported how Flohr’s VistaJet had amassed $4.4 billion in debt, with a Financial Times investigation detailing how auditing firm Ernst & Young reviewed VistaJet’s 2022 financial accounts and commented that “a material uncertainty exists that may cast significant doubt on the group’s [VistaJet’s] ability to continue as a going concern”.
When contacted by The Shift for comment on Flohr’s court case, VistaJet and its public relations team chose not to respond despite various reminders and follow-ups. The case’s first hearing was held at the Rolls Building in London on 19 July. Flohr is denying the allegations.
Sign up to our newsletter Stay in the know
"*" indicates required fields
Calleja’s manager handed €163,000 direct order for Malta Day at Osaka Expo
€3 million in direct orders in place to tackle illegal moorings after elections
Minister’s canvasser handed €70,000 BCA role, never reported for duty
Bedingfield: details on recruitment of government cleaners ‘sensitive’
Tags
#Comprendium
#Edward Zammit Lewis
#fraud
#Joseph Muscat
#Malta
#Malta Tourism Authority
#Thomas Flohr
#Timothy Horlick
#Vistajet
Other News
Calleja’s manager handed €163,000 direct order for Malta Day at Osaka Expo
€3 million in direct orders in place to tackle illegal moorings after elections
Minister’s canvasser handed €70,000 BCA role, never reported for duty
Bedingfield: details on recruitment of government cleaners ‘sensitive’
BOV grants Malita a €28 million lifeline loan to restart stalled housing projects
‘We intend to resist until the tide turns’ – NGOs on planning regime
Dodgy people and dodgy deals: Joseph Muscat tied to ‘fake and deeply troubling’ network
Minister deploys her consultant to attack PN energy proposals
Businessman behind Sliema lido land grab to host PL party
€52m freezing order dropped after Christian Borg’s secret tax deal
Tender for third interconnector puts Malta’s energy gap into sharp relief
Maybe the MTA Payments surface and traced back to the commission taker.
For PL, trusting means….excellent corrupt business partner.
Where ever Muscat was involved, it was tarnished with filth and corruption.
In my 45 years as a professional auditor, a statement by statutory auditors of material uncertainty on the going concern of a company’s financial statements is a modern equivalent to camouflageing a terminal cancer by saying that there is a 1% chance of survival and a way of avoing to mark down assets to break down value and call in the undertakers to wind down the company.
Having delved into the legal transcripts following my 27-year legal career, I can sincerely testify that the depths of corruption I’ve witnessed here have utterly astounded me, even with my background. It was widely purported that this individual graced our nation’s shores as a titan in the technology industry, a billionaire, no less. Delving into the extensive documents mounted in opposition to him, it’s glaringly evident he arrived with nothing. His so-called billionaire status is as authentic as my skills as an artist! His past reveals a dismissal from an entity named Comdisco, with his wealth accumulated via a cycle of borrowing funds and defaulting on repayments. I wish you the best, Mr. Horlick!
It’s truly intriguing to witness both him and VistaJet persevering despite Vista being assessed as a “non-investment grade” by numerous agencies. All he has done is make the business accumulate worldwide liabilities. Solely banking on his shiny PR initiatives to combat financial troubles seems like a shaky tactic at best. And now, as he stands on the brink of a fraud trial, what do we do? Absolutely nothing! Look at the indicators that our Muscat and BOV and MFSA “seemingly” overlooked. The constant cycle of CFOs and Auditors within his firm over the past decade is an alarming indicator indeed. He’s been nabbed by the DOJ and slapped with a fine, but now he faces a Fraud trial in the UK, and we shake hands with him and give him website money… It’s perplexing how we seem to draw such individuals! Truly bewildering, it is.
Is Joey ( Egrant) Muscat a consultant of their company? How much money is he pocketing?
Birds of the same feather do flock together. The most corrupt xpm Malta ever had was and still is where corruption is involved.
How can we find ourselves continuously providing support to a company that is currently embroiled in a serious fraud trial with claims exceeding 50 million pounds!!?
Even more baffling, the company struggles to settle its bills promptly and is shackled with a burdensome level of debt and liabilities.
To clarify my confusion, it appears investors are pursuing legal action due to unreturned funds, the company’s bonds have been classified as non-investment grade, and the financial losses are colossal. So we sit here and wait as the Financial Times recently brought to light allegations of concealed commissions on Bombardier planes, now a fraud trial, on top of kept-quiet funding from the Tourism Board for its pay-per-click website operations, to the tune of millions!
I’m left pondering, how can such a situation persist what are we waiting for a miracle?
This was the promise of the most corrupt xpm!!! Getting top class business people- instead we are loaded with the most corrupt businesses. muscat you ruined Malta and its people. SHAME ON YOU
The stark disparity between the extravagant lifestyles of high-ranking executives and the shaky financial realities of their companies is a disturbing topic. Even more troubling is a head executive using an expensive company asset such as a King Air as a personal taxi service! as the leader of the company seems to revel in a flashy display of personal air travel of ?flying every three days?, while simultaneously facing fraud charges.
It is crucial that shareholders and regulatory authorities hold these executives accountable! Instead of giving them money!
It’s indeed concerning to witness public grants seemingly enriching individual executives rather than addressing the company’s substantial losses and debt. Extravagances like private flights, when the company is in dire financial straits and is ostensibly funded by taxpayer money, raise serious issues regarding fiscal responsibility and corporate ethics.
Malta needs to scrutinize its decision-making processes which allow such actions to occur, we are giving a home to non bill paying failures, and then we give the money, presumably they can use it to fight the fraud trial!
Maltese funds should be allocated to support company growth, secure jobs, and promote industry health, not to bankroll executive luxury lifestyle as they won’t even use scheduled flights, even having their own executive aircraft for staff travel in Malta!
We pay and they take, then get accused of fraud, great corporate culture!
It’s genuinely disconcerting and disappointing to see the way our government is dealing with company managers whose record is streaked with financial failures. Each business this man has been associated with ends up carrying a heavy burden of debt or worse, goes bankrupt entirely, yet his wealth inexplicably continues to balloon. Strikingly, it’s us, the citizens, who seem to carry the financial consequences!
Incredibly, even when slapped with DOJ charges, our government decides to extend him an overdraft at the Bank of Valletta! Rather than facing consequences for his actions, he’s being given additional opportunities to accumulate wealth.
When this man is sued for fraud and faces a trial, you’d think our government would exercise caution. But instead, they grant him government funds. It’s an affront to our collective sense of fairness and justice , we deserve better accountability from our institutions!
Joseph got here people of talent at least this was what he said , Every day we get to know them as most of them are crooks, money launderers, thieves, murderers and the like. These are some of the special talents he imported ,and involved Malta with. Thank him for the best top class talented people some of whom are in our jails and we pay for their keeping . Any other surprises?
https://www.gripeo.com/thomas-flohr/
Says it all! Serial trickster
https://www.amlu.com/2023/08/03/billionaire-thomas-flohr-offering-bel-air-trophy-for-reduced-39-9m/
Looks like he knows a freezing order will be the next move if he losses the fraud case so he is clearly trying to get cash! Meanwhile we give more to him!
Oh absolutely, it’s as clear as a Maltese sky. The USA catches a Bernie Madoff, slaps him with a sentence, sends him to federals? hotel ?Club Fed? for an extended holiday. Here in Malta, we unearth our very own Vista and how do we respond? We slip him a cheque! Actually, there?s nothing odd here at all; we’re just pioneering a revolutionary financial management strategy: “Cheat and Repeat.” After all, why just stop at finding a Madoff when you can sponsor one? At this rate, we’ll be unknowingly funding our very own Ocean’s Eleven.
Shocking to see our National press overlooking a prominent aviation leader embroiled in scandals involving illicit trade-offs, finance foul plays, and massive fraud trials! Caught by FT and the DOJ but conspicuously absent from local news. Who’s muzzling our free press?!