UPDATED/Mafia clan moves billions around the world through Birzebbuga company

The Italian national newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore reports that a shell company incorporated in Malta on 5th May 2011 and with a registered address in Curate Fenech Street, Birzebbuga is used as a base for laundering billions around the world for the Mafia clan of Crotone, through construction companies that branch out of Italy.

The article doesn’t give the name of the Malta company, but Il Fatto Quotidiano names it as Save International Ltd. The main shareholder is Giovanni Vecchi, who is also the director and legal and judicial representative. Vecchi’s name is at the top of the list of the recent Italian arrest warrants. The other shareholder, Alfonso Diletto, is probably related to Salvatore and Michele Diletto, who were arrested too.

The Birzebbuga address is that of the accountancy firm Parker Randall Turner, who resigned as Save International Ltd’s auditors last November and withdrew their consent for the use of their offices as the registered address.

Then there’s this:

Ancora il boss rivela che “a Malta c’ho belle amicizie io… a Malta abbiamo fatto pure i Cavalieri Crociati”. Il suo interlocutore, pure lui massone, spiega che “ci hanno dato il tesserino, ci hanno dato l’investitura, ci hanno dato le spade, ci hanno dato il mantello, ci hanno dato tutto…”.

E Grande Aracri risponde: “a me hanno sequestrato la spada… è una spada dei Templari”. L’arma in questione è stata in effetti sequestrata al boss durante una perquisizione nella sua abitazione a maggio del 2012.