A 45-year-old Egyptian made false declarations in order to extort money from a property development group, a court heard today.
Inspector Yvonne Farrugia from the Economic Crimes Unit said Islam Taufiq, a gypsum installer, had signed two false declarations claiming he was owed €16,800 from Bilom Group. The man claimed he was owed money for services rendered from five subsidiary companies of the group.
But director Michael Bugeja said he had never hired Mr Taufiq do carry out the said works. Mr Bugeja said he had employed the accused to carry out gypsum works at two company properties eight years ago. He was dissatisfied with Mr Taufiq’s work and dismissed him after paying him in full. He had never heard from him or seen him since.
Mr Taufiq was now claiming that he was owed money for works carried out in the past few months but the apartments in question had been completed and sold a number of years ago. Mr Bugeja also claimed that the projects in question were not developed through the five subsidiaries mentioned by the accused but by three other subsidiaries of the group. Three of the companies mentioned by Mr Taufiq were not involved in decoration works so they could not have possibly contracted him to carry out any gypsum works. The accused also did not have any proof that he had carried out any works.
The case continues.