A woman, who sold her bakery in Żabbar after 40 years of hard work and who deposited her entire life savings in funds which went bust, is holding a financial services company responsible for her losses.

Veneranda Cassar, 59, of Żabbar, filed a protest against investment company MFSP Financial Management Limited accusing it of taking advantage of her naivety and of deceiving her and her late husband into investing their life savings into failed investment products.

The widow and her husband, who died suddenly in 2008, had sold their bakery and, acting on the advice by the company and a financial adviser, Lorraine Falzon, invested all their life savings into 10 investments valued at £70,000 (€88,200) and €175,000.

The company mis-sold the products following aggressive sales pressure

She said she had accepted as she had been told that they were “low risk investments”.

But instead of receiving interest on the money she invested, Ms Cassar claimed she incurred substantial losses because nine of the 10 funds were suspended while the last one was incurring substantial losses.

In her judicial protest, also filed against the Malta Financial Services Authority, the woman claimed the company mis-sold the products following “aggressive sales pressure”.

She claimed that the company gave her and her husband advice to invest in products meant for experienced and professional investors and which were not suitable and appropriate in her case.

She is claiming she and her husband were “coerced” into investing, and accused the company of gross negligence and breach of financial services laws.

She therefore called on the company to pay her damages.

Lawyer Anna Mallia signed the document.