Montebello brothers to face bribery charges

The arraignment follows the conviction of Noel Borg Hedley, 67 of Gzira who admitted last month to having received bribes from the Montebello’s for him to intervene with departments that fell under the finance ministry to waiver fines imposed over the sale of under-declared properties.

MaltaToday is informed that Jeffrey and Peter Montebello were interrogated over the past days following Borg Hedley’s admission in court, and will be arraigned to face bribery charges.

So far, Jeffrey and Peter Montebello have kept quiet over a series of events that have rocked the finance ministry over the past years, and caused embarrassment to Tonio Fenech.

The Montebellos were the contractors Fenech had hired for renovation works on his Balzan home and sub-contracted, Charles Magro, of Rainbow Projects Ltd, who had alleged that JPM Brothers had told him they were doing the renovation on the minister’s home  as “a favour” in return for his intervention in the sale of Jerma Palace Hotel.

Tonio Fenech repeatedly denied the allegation, but never sued Magro for libel. However, he sued One News for carrying the allegations. Of particular note, Tonio Fenech did not sue MaltaToday who was the first to break the story.

While the Jerma Palace remained unsold and a huge liability for the Montebello’s, another failed project by JPM Brothers was the Mistra Heights complex which also led to Bawag Bank calling in a loan for €42 million.

The former Galaxy Hotel site in Sliema, which had to be turned into a residential complex was left half completed and led to investors to take over the building and develop it after buying out JPM Brothers.