Allegations of fraud related to the man who fled Malta with his family after owing millions of euros are still being investigated by police before Interpol is roped in, sources said yesterday.

Ryan Schembri fled Malta with his wife and son towards the end of September after loan sharks threatened to harm the nine-year-old child if he did not pay up. Unconfirmed reports claim he owes more than €40 million to investors and suppliers.

Since Mr Schembri’s disappearance, the wife’s family have had no information on the whereabouts of the daughter and grandson, who are believed to have left for Sicily.

“Angie’s mother and I are at our wit’s end with worry. I won’t rest until that boy is safely home,” the woman’s step-father Mike Dimbleby told The Sunday Times of Malta yesterday. He had no further comment to make.

Mr Schembri’s business partner in Malta for 14 years, Etienne Cassar, confirmed with The Sunday Times of Malta that Mr Schembri had told him recently they were already being investigated by Croatian authorities over money laundering.

“What and how, I don’t know. But recently he told me we are under investigation,” Mr Cassar said, adding that he was not involved in the operations in Croatia.

Mr Cassar is a business partner with Mr Schembri in a number of local companies, among them Cassar and Schembri Limited, related to food importation and distribution.

They established a chain of supermarkets around the country, and entered into trading meat products from Brazil to other countries. Mr Cassar said he started to suspect his partner was involved in shady dealings when he was told a supermarket and distribution business they operated in Libya had suddenly made a loss of some €4 million.

I won’t rest until that boy is safely home

This added to suspicions that the companies used by Mr Schembri were acting as a front for money laundering. Things started to go wrong for Mr Schembri last April, according to several business associates.

“When things started to emerge in recent months, it became obvious that Ryan was involved in underhand dealings. But before April, all was good. Accounts were audited by an independent firm,” Mr Cassar said.

The auditor resigned from a number of their companies last June.

“The auditor told me he is resigning because there were amounts unaccounted for and Ryan had no explanation,” Mr Cassar said.

At around the same time, Mr Schembri’s company walked away with €70,000 worth of goods from a Belgian food company, Ecofrost.

Soon after, Mr Schembri transferred companies and shares to another company seemingly established for the purpose – D. More Holdings. This company had as its directors three of the major investors in Mr Schembri’s operations.

Mr Schembri had entered into commitments he could not meet so he had to transfer ownership and shares, according to Mr Cassar.

D. More Holdings also took over More supermarkets, one of the business ventures entered into by Mr Schembri and Mr Cassar. Yet two of the three directors resigned just a month later.

The remaining director of D. More Holdings told Times of Malta that negotiations for the takeover had been ongoing since February, before the problems started. There is now no connection between More supermarkets and Mr Schembri.