Company director accused of misappropriating €370,000 in Bulgarian investments

Paul Pisani, 55 from Pembroke was accused not only of the misappropriation of company funds in his personal capacity, but also in his capacity as director of a number of companies. These companies include: Invest BG Ltd, Zanzara Company Ltd, JOT Company Ltd, Sandringham Ltd and Tal-Markiza Company Ltd.

Originally, Pisani had established Property Invest Ltd along with a number of partners with the overall aim to invest in Bulgarian projects. Each partner was supposed to contribute a portion of money with which to buy shares, subsequently attracting investment from other parties. The endeavour started from rumours that Bulgarian investments were picking up.

However the court heard that Pisani opted to use a portion of the money in some of the companies for his own profit – amounting to a total of €370,000. Also, the court heard that a cheques issued by investors were sometimes paid to Pisani himself, or to Zanzara Company Ltd – where he is sole director.

Inspector Ivan Cilia, leading the prosecution explained how Raymond Agius had invested Lm8,000 by transferring a garage in Marsascala rather than paying in cash. This garage is now under the same Zanzara Company Ltd and never actually came to be administered by Invest BG Ltd.

Joseph Zarb and Emilio Vassallo, another two investors, were declared to have invested Lm20,000 and Lm10,000 respectively. However it turned out that they had both invested twice, Zarb investing a further Lm150,00 and Vassallo having done a further investment which his not accounted for.

Furthermore, interest rates charged at 5 per cent were discovered to apply per month, amounting to 60 oer cent a year and adding up to €220,000 in debt.

From records presented by Accountant Charles Scerri, there initially appeared to be a discrepancy of €250,000 but a document later presented by Pisani showed that this amount was considerably less, that of €30,000.

Dr Stefano Filletti appeared parte civile. Dr Frank Cassar is representing the accused. The case was heard by Magistrate Edwina Grima.