Claims totalling more than €2 million have been filed by a number of creditors during the bankruptcy proceedings of Jonathan Pace, the former owner of Żejtun’s infamous Tyson Butcher, who was killed last August.

Court documents presented before Mr Justice Joseph Zammit McKeon, who is presiding over the case, show that a total of 24 creditors have filed claims with the bankruptcy curators appointed by the court. The total being claimed is €2,025,871.

Mr Pace filed bankruptcy proceedings in June 2013 when his booming business went south, primarily because the money he was making could not cover his debts.

Most of the creditors are meat suppliers who are together owed more than €900,000.

Some creditors told the court they had received cheques from Mr Pace which subsequently bounced. Others had signed credit or loan agreements with Mr Pace before he was killed.

Bank of Valletta is owed most money, claiming nearly €700,000 to cover loans taken out by Mr Pace over the years. Other creditors include companies that sold him meat products and frozen items when he was running his business.

There are two amounts of €103,000 and €17,500 that are covered by private agreements signed by the two parties. It is unclear whether these were private loans.

Mr Pace’s creditors also include Hotspot magazine, which is owed nearly €6,000 for adverts, while €15,100 is being claimed by a media production company that produced adverts for Ty-son Butcher.

A company is owed more than €22,000 to cover freezers purchased or rented by Mr Pace.

Water and electricity bills covering the actual butcher shop, a garage which was used as a store and his residence in Żejtun amounted to almost €27,000.

Some creditors told the court they had received cheques which bounced

Mr Justice Zammit McKeon accepted the creditors’ claims and ordered the list to be published in the Government Gazette and a local newspaper. He also set a creditors’ meeting.

Mr Pace was killed last August 21 as he stood on the balcony of a first-floor flat in Mahatma Gandhi Street in Fgura. Multiple shots were fired from the road towards the balcony in a housing estate.

He was hit in the back and in the head. An ambulance took him to hospital but he succumbed to his injuries some time later.

The shooting came just a fortnight after he was released on bail in a case where he was being charged with trying to kill a former friend, 52-year-old Vince Muscat, known as Il-Koħħu, in Msida in April 2014.

Mr Muscat had criminal proceedings over his alleged involvement in a failed heist on HSBC headquarters in 2010 and trying to kill two policemen in a shootout at the scene.

Following the Msida shooting, Mr Muscat – who identified Mr Pace as his assailant – managed to drive to the local police station despite having been shot three times in the head.

The shooting cost him an eye and the use of an arm.

matthew.xuereb@timesofmalta.com