Missing: Ryan Schembri. Photo: FacebookA judge has turned down a company’s request to stall and delete two bills of exchange worth some €150,000 that had been borrowed by runaway businessman Ryan Schembri, the former owner of More Supermarkets.
Mr Justice Lawrence Mintoff rejected the application filed by Etienne Cassar, Mr Schembri’s business partner in Cassar and Schembri (Marketing) Limited.
Mr Cassar told the court he could not confirm the authenticity of the signature on the bills of exchange, which were signed by Mr Schembri, a co-director in the company, as he was away from the island.
Mr Schembri is believed to have fled Malta last September after having allegedly racked up millions of euros in debt. Rumours in business circles suggested it may be as much as €40 million.
However, this has never been confirmed and the claims made by creditors who came forward so far are nowhere near this figure.
He said he could not confirm the authenticity of the signature
The Sunday Times of Malta recently revealed that Mr Schembri was living in Dubai but had checked out of the hotel where he was living after the newspaper had located him.
In this latest case concerning the bills of exchange, a creditor who loaned the money to Mr Schembri, told the court he was in possession of two bills of exchange and two cheques amounting to €51,730 and €106,460, totalling €158,190, and which matured on May 23 and June 20 last year.
However, these were never honoured and he was seeking their execution. The money was a short-term loan given to Mr Schembri through two cheques. One cheque, amounting to €50,000, was deposited into the company’s APS Bank account, and the other for €100,000 had been deposited in the company Bank of Valletta account.
As a repayment guarantee, the company had issued two bills of exchange and two Banif Bank cheques covering these amounts.
In his judgment, Mr Justice Mintoff said Mr Cassar should have questioned the deposit of such a large sum in the company’s bank accounts.
He ruled that while Mr Schembri could have been conducting business deals behind the back of fellow directors, this could not absolve the company he was representing from any agreement made in good faith.
He therefore rejected the request for the suspension and ordered the company to pay what it owed.
A few weeks ago, the same judge rejected a similar application over €272,000 Mr Schembri had borrowed from Lawrence Fino.