A court had ordered the freezing of all assets belonging to jeweller George Tabone and his companies Gram Collections Ltd, Gram Jewellers Ltd and Gram Holdings Ltd.

The decision was taken by Mr Justice Lawrence Quintano at the request of the Attorney General. 

Mr Tabone was last week accused of handling stolen property after he allegedly bought €350,000 worth of stolen jewellery. He denied the charges.

The jewellery was stolen from Piazza Antiques Ltd in August 2011.

Piazza Antiques owner Alfred Borg had told the court that in August 2011 he received a call from the police about a theft from his shop.

On arriving, he drew up a list of what was missing and gave it to the police. The value of the missing items was more than €500,000. Nothing was ever recovered.

Glen Debattista, one of three people who had broken into Mr Borg’s shop, said that after the theft they (the thieves) had gone to a house and split everything between them.

He said that he sold his and his son’s share to the accused. He had gone to his shop in Birkirkara about four times. The items were carried  in a Lidl shopping bag. He said that they had told the jeweller that the items were stolen and they were sold to him in four lots. Mr Tabone would switch off the CCTV before each visit.

During the hearing, Mr Tabone could at one point be seen sniggering to himself and shaking his head.

A ban on publication of Mr Tabone's name was lifted by Mr Justice Quintano today.

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