Brian Tonna and Nexia BT colleagues get €6.3 million asset freeze

A Maltese court has frozen €6.3 million in assets belonging to accountant Brian Tonna, his companies, and his former associates, in connection with a sprawling corruption investigation linked to the disgraced former prime minister Joseph Muscat.

Magistrate Leonard Caruana, presiding over one of several criminal proceedings against Tonna, issued the latest order, freezing €2.1 million of his personal assets pending the outcome of the case. The charges relate to alleged kickbacks to Keith Schembri, Muscat’s former chief of staff, in the controversial sale of Maltese passports.

Should Tonna be convicted, the court has ruled that the frozen assets will be subject to confiscation.

The freeze also affects individuals and entities closely tied to Tonna, including long-time collaborators Karl Cini, Manuel Castagna, and Katrin Bondin Carter. The four held joint interests in a web of accountancy and management firms, notably Nexia BT—an advisory firm at the heart of multiple corruption scandals during Muscat’s premiership.

Among the frozen sums are €200,000 linked to Cini and €1.3 million belonging to BTI Management Ltd, a company owned by Tonna. The order extends to several companies, including BTI International, Nexia BT, SPC Services Ltd, and Willerby Trade Inc. (a company in the British Virgin Islands).

Tonna, Castagna, and Cini face multiple criminal charges over alleged misconduct across key government projects, including the controversial gas-fired power station deal, the sale of citizenship through Malta’s Individual Investor Programme, and a multibillion-euro hospital concession widely condemned as fraudulent. Bribes allegedly channelled to Schembri feature prominently in the charges.

Tonna, Schembri, and Adrian Hillman—former managing director of Allied Newspapers, publishers of The Times of Malta—are also accused of corruption in a €30 million deal to establish a new printing press for the newspaper. The project, mired in allegations of kickbacks to senior executives, has stalled, and the printing operation is now defunct.

Despite media reports and public scrutiny stretching back years, Maltese police failed to act on the mounting evidence. It was only in 2021—after the publication of two damning magisterial inquiries and Muscat’s resignation under pressure—that arrests and arraignments began.