Businessman sues banks

A Sliema businessman and his wife are suing Bank of Valletta and HSBC, in the first case claiming loans had not been honoured by the bank and in the other alleging that a Mid-Med Bank official had taken money from their accounts.

Magic Kiosk owner Joseph Pace and his wife Carmen filed two writs of summons in the First Hall of the Civil Court against the banks.

In the writ against Bank of Valletta, the couple claimed the bank had accorded them certain banking facilities but had never given them the funds.

The couple claimed they had applied for the loans for the purchase of a number of flats in Sliema. They had entered into a notarial deed acknowledging they were debtors of the bank.

The loans were required for the couple to construct apartments in Sliema which would then be sold and the proceeds used to pay their debts in connection with other property in Sliema, including that of the Magic Kiosk.

However, the couple claimed that the bank had never actually made the money available to them. As a result they could not carry out the development they had in mind and as a consequence had not been able to pay the amounts they owed the bank.

The couple claimed the bank was still adding the interest due on the loans that were never made available to them with effect from 1995.

The court was requested to hold the bank liable for the damages the Paces had sustained.

The bank, on the other hand, has seized the assets of Brittania Catering Ltd, which runs the kiosk and ordered the sale by judicial auction of the Magic Kiosk. The bank is claiming Lm250,000 from the company.

When the first date of the sale was appointed earlier this year, there were no more than three bidders and the amount of bids did not exceed half the value declared by architects. So the auction had to take place again.

When this took place last Thursday, there was one bid of Lm10,000 and there are now 15 days in which other bids can be made. If no bids are made, the sale could be deemed final. If bids are made, a final sale would be held after summer.

But Mr Pace has filed another case to stop the judicial sale.

In the second writ filed against HSBC the couple claimed they had been clients of Mid-Med Bank (which had been bought by HSBC) but that a high ranking official of the bank had tampered with their accounts.

The couple claimed that the official in question had taken money from their bank accounts.

The bank had not only failed to take action on the couple's requests for information on these accounts but had sued the couple to repay the monies missing from their accounts.

The Paces asked the court to condemn HSBC to pay them damages.

Dr José Herrera and Dr Keith Bonnici signed the writs.