The compilation of evidence against Shawn Higgins, who is accused of facilitating money laundering allegedly carried out by Gordon and Yvette Debono, continued before magistrate Natasha Galea Sciberras this afternoon.

Inspector James Turner took to the witness stand first. He told the court about how he was assigned to operation Proteus as a sergeant and officer cadet. There were a number of cheques to Higgins which didn’t make sense. An APS account for Petroplus paid €6.2million in cheques to Higgins and possibly more. The amounts were for between €5000 and €500,000 which was cashed. He was arrested on suspicion of money laundering earlier this year and a statement was taken. He had refused to consult with a lawyer at that stage.

The cheques amounted to over 6 million euro. Higgins was also advertising vehicles which investigators found belonged to Gordon Debono. He said he was selling them for Debono together with some yachts. A Mini and a VW Bug were sold for around €20,000 said the inspector, a BMW 1 Series was also sold but no details of the price were available to the police, he said. 

Higgins said he had asked Debono whether he was doing anything illegal and was told that he wasn’t, said the inspector.

Higgins claimed that he was simply an employee of Petroplus, said the Inspector. He denied benefiting “one cent” from the cheques.

Cross-examined by lawyer Franco Debono, the witness confirmed that the accused would cash cheques and return the money to the company. The lawyer suggested that Higgins had given police copies of his payslips. The cheques would be made out to Higgins, cashed and the cash returned to Petroplus, said the inspector. The accused was also paid by cheque, added the inspector, but as the threshold of the investigation was €5000 these were not immediately available.

Debono asked if the man had acquired assets which showed he had made a lot of money. To date the assets we have record of are commensurate with those of a dedicated employee, Turner replied.

A representative of Transport Malta testified about the registration of a cabin cruiser registered to Higgins. It was bought this year.

An APS Bank compliance officer took the stand, after being exempted from professional secrecy. She exhibited records of a current account, sole signatory Gordon Debono. A number of cheques addressed to Shawn Higgins were issued, she said.

A representative of Malta Business Registry exhibited the M&A of Petroplus and The Business Centre Ltd. TBC Ltd is sole shareholder in Petroplus. She revealed the beneficial owner of the companies was Gordon Debono. TBC was struck off the business registry earlier this year after failing to submit documents.

The court heard submissions on bail. Investigations were still underway, and had witnesses still to testify. Some were being spoken to by the police and some were on police bail, said the prosecution. Debono pointed out that police bail was a good thing, but that the accused was being treated inversely – he was arrested and police still seeing who to speak to. The investigation had been on-going for years, he said. Mercieca said the accused had not been given police bail as there was enough evidence to charge him, this may not be the case with others, she said.

Debono argued that the law stipulated that the compilation of evidence should be closed in the space of a month. He said the prosecution “hadn’t even expressed a wish” to summon all the civilian witnesses as soon as possible.

Bail was denied.

The case continues.

Lawyers Franco Debono and Amadeus Cachia appeared for Higgins. Inspectors Joseph Xerri, Omar Caruana and James Turner are prosecuting, together with lawyers Elaine Mercieca and Cinzia Azzopardi Alamango from the office of the AG.