Mambra owner not eligible for tax amnestyThe owner of Mambra Electronics cannot benefit from the tax amnesty scheme launched recently because all his assets are frozen.

His lawyer, José Herrera, said he was now seeking a meeting between his client, Joseph Pavia, and officials from the inland revenue VAT departments and the bank for arrangements to be made on the amounts due.

Mr Pavia would be eligible to a 90 per cent cut in fines and interest owed to the Inland Revenue Department. His total bill with the IRD stands at about €463,000 but it is not known how much of this is interest and fines.

The amnesty scheme was launched two weeks ago by Finance Minister Tonio Fenech and would help those who had fallen back in their tax payments.

Dr Herrera's comments came after his decision not to contest a request by the IRD to prevent the sale of Mr Pavia's villa until overdue tax is paid.

The IRD has asked the court to issue a warrant of prohibitory injunction to stop Mr Pavia from selling his Santa Marija Estate villa. Mr Pavia now owes the government a total of €1,313,565, including €350,000 in value added tax and eco contributions.

A total of €500,000 are due in fines and penalties for late payments to the VAT Department.

Mambra's shop in Luqa closed for a long shutdown in July but never re-opened on August 5 as it was meant to.

In a previous court sitting regarding his VAT bills, Dr Herrera said his client felt he was overcharged in certain payments of eco-contributions, so he did not pay them in full.