The Constitutional Court has rejected an appeal filed by former OPM chief of staff Keith Schembri and three associates - his father Alfio Schembri, Malcolm Scerri, and Robert Zammit - against an order freezing their assets in an ongoing money laundering case.

The four individuals, who are pleading not guilty to financial crimes connected to the sale of printing machinery to Progress Press Ltd, had taken legal action against the State Advocate.

They argued that the indefinite, non-quantified freezing order disproportionately violated their fundamental rights and unjustly impacted assets derived from legitimate sources.

While a lower court previously agreed that they lacked an ordinary legal remedy to challenge the order, it rejected their remaining claims.

The Constitutional Court, led by Chief Justice Mark Chetcuti alongside Justices Anthony Ellul and Robert G. Mangion, upheld that decision.

The court determined that the proportionality test had been met, emphasizing the severe nature of the alleged offenses. Given that potential convictions carry penalties of up to €2.5 million in fines and imprisonment, the court concluded that the scale of the frozen assets remains appropriate under the circumstances.