VGH inquiry fallout: Lawyer Kevin Deguara resigns DIZZ directorships

Aqra bil-Malti

Lawyer and entrepreneur Kevin Deguara has resigned from two directorships connected to DIZZ Group, controlled by Joseph and Michelle Muscat’s family friends Diane Izzo and her husband, ambassador Karl Izzo.

Kevin Deguara and Jean Carl Farrugia are the founding partners of DF Advocates and the lawyers who provided counsel to Vitals Global Healthcare and Technoline. Farrugia and Deguara face money laundering charges and charges of having actively participated in criminal activity and criminal association.

Yet despite the criminal charges Deguara is facing, he has yet to resign from several similar posts.

The latest development came just a few days before Deguara, his brother Kenneth, and their lawyer-partner Jean Karl Farrugia are to appear in court.

They, along with several others, including some of their companies, are being charged with money laundering and other related crimes concerning the fraudulent Vitals/Steward hospital deal.

Research by The Shift shows that Kevin Deguara holds many similar posts on a number of listed companies as well as at the Malta Stock Exchange.

Deguara is currently a director on the boards of Horizon Finance PLC, Shoreline Mall PLC, and The Convenience Shop (Holding) PLC.

The senior partner at DF Advocates is also the board secretary of Global Ports Melita Ltd, which is connected to the ownership of the Valletta Cruise Port PLC, of which he is also the board secretary.

According to the hospitals magisterial inquiry, as soon as disgraced former prime minister Joseph Muscat resigned from Castille, Deguara was engaged as a consultant of the cruise port company and paid six instalments of €10,000 each (€60,000).

Deguara is also a shareholder in several companies that are involved in various controversial projects.

One such project included the Shoreline investment, which bought land from Smart City to develop into a fully-fledged real estate project and shopping mall.

At the time, Keith Schembri represented the government on the board of Smart City, later replaced by Kurt Farrugia.

Deguara is also sits on its board of the controversial American University of Malta project together with Adrian Hillman, the former Times of Malta managing director, who was appointed to the university’s board on Keith Schembri’s direct instructions.

Deguara also sits on the boards of the Malta-French Chamber of Commerce and the South African Chamber of Commerce.

In 2021, as part of the hospitals’ inquiry, the police raided his residence and offices.

Deguara, the President of Zabbar’s football team, St Patrick’s, is also involved in many businesses that have grown and flourished rapidly during the past decade.

These include the supermarket chain The Convenience Shop, where he holds shares with his partner at DF Advocates, Jean Carl Farrugia. The latter also sits on the Valletta FC committee.

Since 2020, Farrugia has also been a member of the board of directors of DShopping Malls Finance PLC and Dizz Finance PLC, two financial vehicles supporting Diane and Karl Izzo’s businesses.