Zaren Vassallo ‘locks out’ shareholder from MFCC

Police and legal teams have been called in to assist in settling a dispute which erupted between Zaren Vassallo and his junior partner Reuben Caruana of Sign-It Limited in the Malta Fairs and Convention Centre in Ta' Qali.

Vassallo - who through Catermax, his joint venture with Corinthia, had bought into MFCC - confirmed with MaltaToday that his junior partner has been "locked-out" and "suspended" from the company.

While declining to reveal why Caruana had been suspended and locked out of the convention grounds, Vassallo confirmed that the employees at MFCC have been briefed about the situation.

MaltaToday is informed that security personnel were called in last night and had all the locks to the offices changed, and mobile phone connections in use by Caruana terminated

Recently, MaltaToday revealed that the deed for the 65-year lease for the Malta Fairs and Convention Centre at Ta' Qali omitted any reference to the €1.2 million "performance bond" that was originally envisioned in the original tender of 2006 for the lucrative venue, from which the preferred bidders were chosen.

The transfer of land to MFCC, was unanimously approved by both sides of the House of Representatives 'nem con' with no questions raised about the deed, during a sitting on 27 November, 2012.

Originally the request for proposals issued by the roads and urban development ministry in 2007 referred to a performance guarantee of €1.5 million (Lm500,000) as a pledge for the developer to undertake to fulfil "all responsibilities and commitments as prescribed in the emphytheutecal deed to bring the project to a full state of operational completion within the prescribed period."