Businessman testifies in 'black money' case

A businessman yesterday recounted how a kind gesture to help a man in need landed him in the grip of an anonymous caller who threatened to harm him and his family if he did not fork out a large sum of money.

Anton Camilleri told a court how it all started when he agreed to help out the friend of a former employee by lending him money and keeping his luggage for some time. But, as time passed by, the demands for money increased, as did the threats against him and his family.

"I wanted to get rid of these people but the more time passed, the worse things got," Mr Camilleri said.

He was testifying before Magistrate Jacqueline Padovani Grima in the compilation of evidence against Benjamin Saygbe, 39 of Liberia and Yaya Traore, 31 and Yacou Doukoure, 21, both of the Ivory Coast.

The three men are pleading not guilty to conspiring to defraud Mr Camilleri of over Lm10,000 and threatening him.

Mr Camilleri testified after being cautioned by the court and in the presence of his lawyer Joseph Giglio. He explained how some three weeks ago he received a phone call from Tom, a former employee whom he had recruited "from priests in Balzan" where he lived at the time.

Tom asked Mr Camilleri to meet him because he needed to speak to him so they made an appointment for the following day.

The next day, when they met, Tom turned up with another man and asked Mr Camilleri for "a favour".

"He told me that his friend's father had been killed during the war and asked me to lend him Lm1,000 and to temporarily hold on to luggage which contained his friend's family wealth...

"I trusted Tom as a genuine person. I did not think he'd betray me as I had helped him out in the past."

Mr Camilleri accepted to help so he gave Tom's friend Lm1,000 and agreed to keep the luggage without knowing what it contained. Tom then signed a paper to show Mr Camilleri had lent his friend the money.

Mr Camilleri said he did not know who the friend was but recognised him in court to be Mr Doukoure.

Two days later Tom called Mr Camilleri again and the three men met up again.

"Tom asked me for another favour, to give his friend Lm12,000 so that he would be able to get a chemical from the American Embassy. He showed me what looked like a pass to the embassy and explained that his friend's father was a stable, renowned man so he had access to get the chemical from the embassy."

Mr Camilleri explained that after being pressured he refused to lend the Lm12,000.

A few days later he received a phone call on his mobile phone threatening to hurt his wife and children if he did not pay the Lm12,000.

"I had never passed through anything of the sort. I was told to remember that I had two young children which was true.

"When I went home, with my mind full of worries, my wife asked me what was wrong. I told her that the man had threatened to take our children if I did not fork out Lm12,000. She told me that it was better to pay the money than lose our children. So I decided to pay," he said.

Mr Camilleri explained that the following day he went to the bank to withdraw the money then met Tom and Mr Doukoure at his house. He told them that he only had Lm10,000 and his wife drafted a document stating he had given them the money.

But the following day Tom phoned him and claimed that he still owed them Lm2,000. Tom went to his house and Mr Camilleri gave him the Lm2,000 which he put down in writing.

Then, some time later, Tom went to him with a parcel stamped with the American flag and asked him to keep it with the luggage.

Mr Camilleri went on to explain how he then started receiving phone calls from a Spanish number. The man on the other side of the line claimed to be Mr Doukoure's brother.

The man accused Mr Camilleri of sending his brother to jail and every time Mr Camilleri so much as mentioned the luggage the man started shouting and threatened to harm him and his family. The man told him that half the content of the luggage belonged to the Italian Mafia while the rest was of several others.

The man asked Mr Camilleri for €200,000 and told him that, if he did not pay he would "tear them out of my heart".

Mr Camilleri was on holiday with his wife and children when he received further threats and consulted a friend on what he ought to do. His friend suggested that he cut his holiday short and go to the police.

So Mr Camilleri came back to Malta and went to the Police Commissioner where he explained his story and asked for protection.

The police eventually opened the luggage and the parcel. They also asked Mr Camilleri to contact the man on the Spanish number in their presence. Mr Camilleri called the man and told him he had only managed to collect €60,000 of the requested €200,000. The man asked Mr Camilleri to take the money to him but, when he refused, he said he would come to Malta himself but never did.

Police Inspector Michael Mallia, who is prosecuting with Inspector Kevin Borg, explained how following Mr Camilleri's report, investigations revealed that Tom was in reality a refugee called Kaba Konate who resided in Bugibba.

On September 12, police carried out a surprise raid at his residence where they found three men and a woman. Mr Konate had moved out.

During a search police found blackened paper and a wrapped bottle similar to the items found in the luggage handed over by Mr Camilleri.

One of the men found in the apartment, George Brown, said he knew Mr Konate. He said Mr Konate had once taken a Spanish man to stay at the apartment. When the Spanish man left Mr Troare moved in for some time and invited Mr Saygbe to stay there too.

Mr Brown said that on one occasion he had seen one of the men wrapping an empty green bottle and he took pictures of this with his digital camera which he handed over to the police.

Then, on September 13, police arrested three people approaching the apartment. Mr Doukoure was recognised to be the person on the pictures taken by Mr Brown and the other two men were Mr Saygbe and Mr Troare. The three men were then arrested for questioning.

Mr Doukoure admitted that he was the person in the pictures and initially said he was carrying out an African ritual and that the black papers were healing bandages.

He later admitted that the blackened paper was aimed to make people believe it was money. He explained how a prospective buyer was first identified and made to believe that the whole wad of black paper was in fact money. Once the paper was sold to the person, the person was told that in order to get rid of the black colouring the paper had to be immersed in a certain chemical that was to be bought for a lump sum.

He added that this idea originated in Africa and confirmed that Mr Troare and Mr Saygbe knew about it.

During a search in Mr Saygbe's room the police found a handbook on how to blacken money and he said that the paper was used by Mr Doukoure for voodoo purposes.

Mr Troare said he believed the medicine was Mr Doukoure's medicine.