SOHO PROSTITUTION RACKET: Bajada, Delia and takings laundered through Delia’s Jersey bank account

You’ll be able to read all about it, with information and details, later this evening or tomorrow, depending on time constraints. But apparently Adrian Delia is to hold a press conference round about now – subject: is-saħħara tal-Bidnija li ħakmet il-partit – so I had better report the basic information up ahead in case journalists other than myself would like to ask him questions about it.

The man on whose behalf the London solicitors’ letter was written to Adrian Delia in December 2003, whose name I cut out of the original upload, is Emanuel Bajada. You can read the full letter, with the name intact in the subject heading and the letter reference, here: solicitor’s letter to Adrian Delia

Meanwhile, for background read this report and also this one on the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit portal. Read also here and here. Take note of the fact that Chris Cardona, then a member of the Opposition, was defence counsel.

Emanuel (known as Lolly) Bajada did not own the London flats from which the prostitution racket operated. He worked for his brother, who is the real owner of the flats with his ownership concealed by two companies registered in one of the world’s most secretive jurisdictions, the Marshall Islands.

Emanuel Bajada’s job was to collect the prostitutes’ takings (“rent”) from the flats owned by his brother and deposit those takings into a bank account in Adrian Delia’s personal name, at Barclays International in Jersey. Adrian Delia was then supposed to pay the money on – a process which in money-laundering is known as ‘layering’ – to bank accounts linked to the companies incorporated in the Marshall Islands.

Sometimes, the money was transferred to Malta as cash in bags on ordinary scheduled flights. At other times, it was taken in cash to the home of Emanuel Bajada’s brother in Paddington, London. But the vast majority of it – around £1 million over four years until the point where that letter was written – was deposited in Adrian Delia’s bank account in Jersey.

The name of Emanuel Bajada’s brother? Eucharist Bajada, who lives in Paddington, London. Eucharist Bajada and Adrian Delia are involved in a company together called Patience Developments Ltd, which is incorporated in Malta. Adrian Delia owns a token one share, Eucharist Bajada owns 1,000 in his personal name, and Vicarist Ltd, a company owned by Eucharist Bajada, his daughter Victoria Bajada (former married name, Dimech Debono) and his son, also called Eucharist but known as Kris, owns another 1,000. Eucharist Bajada and his wife Maria are the directors of this company and its legal and judicial representatives.

Eucharist Bajada’s son is married to but separated at law from Nationalist Party leader Simon Busuttil’s sister, Diana. The marriage broke down in very difficult circumstances and the relationship between the two is one of hostility.

Dr Busuttil was not aware of the brothels or the prostitution racket, and had no idea that Eucharist Bajada and Emanuel Bajada are brothers. He discovered all this when this website rang him for comment. He had no comment to make except to express his shock and distress, saying that this helped him understand the extent and nature of his sister’s suffering. This website did not speak to his sister, who has now taken her former name of Diana Busuttil.

There will be more about this story, so stay tuned – including Eucharist Bajada and the infamous Soho gangsters from whom he bought the portfolio of London flats from which the prostitution racket operated. Some of the flats have since been sold off, but the racket continues to operate out of the flats on Greek Street and Bateman Street in Soho.