Keith Schembri’s lawyers have issued an urgent court application demanding full disclosure of all evidence related to their client’s case as well as direct access to their client.

Schembri was arrested in his Mellieħa home at 12.30am on 22nd September 2020 – and his lawyers say they are yet to have access to their client. His lawyers are Edward Gatt and Mark Vassallo.

They say failure to do so will breach Schembri’s human rights.

The application, which can you read over here, confirms that this is related to the recently-concluded magisterial inquiry concerning an alleged passport kickbacks scheme between Schembri and Brian Tonna.

Schembri’s lawyers reveal that their requests for access to the inquiry’s conclusions were refused by the AG. She ignored a second request on 15th September. His lawyers claim he has not been granted the right to a lawyer as of yet.

The letter insists that Schembri has not yet been provided with full disclosure of the evidence against him.

Nexia BT’s Karl Cini and Brian Tonna are also under arrest, while the many others named in the court’s order to freeze assets of over 100 companies, and the people linked to them, will be called in over the coming days.

According to a leaked report by the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit (FIAU), Tonna transferred two €50,000 payments through the now-closed Pilatus Bank to Schembri.

Schembri is facing allegations that the payments were kickbacks related to the sale of Maltese citizenship to a family of three Russian nationals.

Both men have denied any wrongdoing, with Schembri claiming that the €100,000 was the repayment of a personal loan given to Tonna while the former underwent separation proceedings.

The loan was repaid through Willerby Trading, a British Virgin Islands shell company secretly owned by Tonna. Willerby Trading is named in the court order.

The same FIAU report also raised suspicions of the loan document presented to the bank to justify the payments after finding no trace of the original loan payment by Schembri to Tonna.

What do you think of the letter? Comment below