Paul Grech, found dead in Mellieħa last week and believed to have been stabbed in the heart, bought a farm in Russia and was setting up a potato business with a Russian man, his family said.

The Russian business partner has been questioned by the police over the murder and is on police bail, according to police sources.

Mr Grech’s relatives told Times of Malta that, over the past 10 years, he invested thousands of euros in buying land “as large as Gozo” in Russia and was in the process of starting a potato firm.

In fact, the relatives said, Mr Grech was planning to go to Russia before he went missing on October 10. They added that a grey file containing contracts of the land purchases Mr Grech made in Russia, with his partner, were missing. He usually kept the file at home.

The Russian man left Malta for Sicily on October 11 and then went to Russia, the relatives said, quoting information they said they got from the police.

He was questioned on his return to Malta late last week.

His bedridden mother has not been told her son is dead and is under the impression he is in Russia

Over the years, Mr Grech travelled to Russia regularly and was planning to buy a wood factory with the Russian man, the relatives said, adding that he used to tell them his ambitions.

Some relatives often warned him about doing business with strangers in Russia.

Farm aimed to solve money woes

Mr Grech had told them that he paid for most of the farmland and also paid his Russian business partner, who regularly shuttled between the two countries, to look after the farm, the relatives said, insisting they did not want to be identified.

Mr Grech, 47, was the youngest of seven siblings and lived with his 86-year-old mother and one of five brothers in Magħtab, limits of Naxxar. His mother, who is bedridden, had not been told her son was dead and thought he was in Russia, the relatives said.

Mr Grech’s family last saw him on the evening of October 10, a Thursday, when he told them he would soon be going to Russia to try to finalise the business and start reaping the fruits of his investment.

“He was setting up a new business and when he got to the end, that was it,” the relatives said.

They said Mr Grech worked as a farmer on the family-owned land. However, he had lost a lot of money when he tried investing in land in Ħamrun. He saw the Russian potato business as a way out of his financial problems and borrowed money to make it happen.

When he did not return home on October 10 his relatives said they initially thought he was spending the weekend with his Russian partner as the two were often together.

The family started getting worried when he was not home by Sunday, October 13.

They could not reach him on his two mobile phones, both indicating he was “not in a position to respond”.

On the morning of Monday, October 14, the family reported him missing to the police.

On Friday, Mr Grech’s car was spotted by a passer-by who recognised the registration number plate from the missing person’s report. That afternoon, a body was found wedged in the Mellieħa cliffs.

It was curled in a foetal position in a tight crevice on the edge of the cliffs of Triq l-Aħrax.

Police sources said the man died after being stabbed once in the heart.

“Whoever did it knew what he had to do. It’s sad that he died this way. I think a lot about it. What if he spent days there, in pain, before he died?” one relative asked.

The police are still waiting for the results of DNA tests to officially determine that the corpse found in Mellieħa is Mr Grech.

The family would like to be shown his belongings to be able to identify them and get some closure. It was noted, for example, that he always used the same belt.

Relatives say they have not been asked by the police to identify the body.

“We want the killer to be caught. Pawlu was a good boy and a quiet person. He was kind and trusting. He didn’t deserve this ending,” they said.