A minority shareholder in Allied Newspapers Ltd and the nephew of Mabel Strickland has spoken out after former company officials were implicated and charged in a money laundering scandal over the past week.

Robert Hornyold-Strickland claims to be the sole heir to Mabel Strickland, whose family founded English speaking newspapers Allied Newspapers Ltd – which publish The Times of Malta and The Sunday Times of Malta.  He is a 13% shareholder in the company.

In a lengthy statement on Monday, Hornyold-Strickland said that he was “disgusted and angry” that Allied Newspapers workers and editorial staff “have been so betrayed and now having to work under such stress as a result of these allegations.”

“I am however hopeful that justice will be done and am confident that the Times of Malta will survive this scandal. I, personally, will do everything within my means to help the staff through this difficult period. We will come through this stronger and better”, he said.

Hornyold-Strickland was reacting to this past week’s developments, which saw the arrest and arraignment of 11 individuals – including former OPM chief of staff Keith Schembri and former Allied managing director Vince Buhagiar – on money laundering charges in connection with the purchase of new printing equipment by Progress Press Ltd – which is owned by Allied – from Schembri’s Kasco Group.

In court, the prosecution said that Progress Press was defrauded to the tune of €5 million with the profit going into the personal bank accounts of Buhagiar, former Allied Newspapers managing director Adrian Hillman – who is expected to be extradited from the UK to face similar charges, Schembri and Kasco director Malcolm Scerri.

Hornyold-Strickland said: “For many years I have been concerned about certain members of the management team at Allied Newspapers, and yet few people have actually wanted to listen to my concerns.  Finally, it seems I am being vindicated.  Those close to me, and personal friends, have been very supportive when they understood the real story of Mabel’s stolen legacy”.

He said that “if these allegations are proven, then I believe that all those who sat on the Boards of Allied and Progress at the time these decisions were taken should be tendering their resignations as should the Council of the Strickland Foundation who elected Mr Hillman in the first place.

“I will also be seeking legal advice this week as to how we can recoup the alleged sum of £5.5 million that has allegedly been defrauded from the newspaper group”.

Hornyold-Strickland claims to be the sole heir to Mabel Strickland and has been contesting in court the Strickland Foundation’s ‘capture’ of the Allied Group – something which he claims was done by the late Guido De Marco and Joseph Ganado till their respective deaths in 2010 and 2016.

He said that he is contesting this in a court case which is currently under appeal.

“Seen from outside, as a mere minority shareholder in Allied at the moment, the method by which Directors are chosen and the purchase of the printing machinery are merely two of a number of issues that I had raised questions about.  I have also questioned the financial probity of some past Directors of Allied and members of the seemingly arcane Strickland Foundation that controls the newspaper group.  We, as minority shareholders, have never been allowed to see the internal Adrian Hillman report although we were expected (indirectly) to pay for it. This is a scandal”, he said.

In a short statement published in reaction, Allied Newspapers chairman Paul Mercieca stressed that the statement issued by Robert Strickland refers to an issue that is entirely between The Strickland Foundation and himself.

This issue has, for many years now, been subject to court proceedings, Mercieca said.

“I am very disappointed at the timing of this statement by a minority shareholder and I deem it to be totally inappropriate given the current circumstances”, he said.