Delia accused by businessman of taking €86,210 to which he wasn’t entitled

Adrian Delia, who is set to win the Nationalist Party leadership election tomorrow with a forecast 60% of the vote, stands accused by Sliema businessman Boris Arcidiacono of having taken €86,210 from his loan facility with HSBC in collusion with the bank. Mr Arcidiacono, who runs a furniture and furnishings business, has sued the bank over the payment, which he says is illicit and made without his consent. The matter is yet to be resolved in court.

In June 2009, Mr Arcidiacono took a loan of around €800,000 from HSBC, the purpose of which was to settle outstanding debts and matters concerning property disputes with third parties. Adrian Delia had been his lawyer on a retainer of €1,000 a month. “He used to bill me quite heavily before that, in the region of €2,500 a month, and one day I called him and simply said this was unacceptable, and that we should fix a monthly retainer fee. We settled on €1,000 a month, paid quarterly in advance. For that, he was meant to do all the legal work for my firm.”

In 2009, Mr Arcidiacono began speaking to HSBC about a loan which would allow him to rationalise outstanding debts with third parties and settle pending disputes. “Dr Delia was my lawyer in the negotiations and he asked for a hefty fee, which he called a ‘success fee’ for helping me get the loan. He asked for €120,000. I refused, of course, because I was already paying him on retainer and there wasn’t much work involved for him, certainly not to justify anything near that amount. I was the one who had to collate all the documents required by the bank,” Mr Arcidiacono said.

“At that point, Dr Delia, who was accompanied by his partner Georg Sapiano – I was at their office – threatened not just to relinquish my case but to actually sabotage it. Dr Sapiano actually told me that it was thanks to them that I would get the loan from HSBC because their firm gives them millions in business, he said, through a remote payments billing agency.”

In June that year, the contract for the loan was signed and Mr Arcidiacono submitted to the bank a schedule of payments that had to be made, along with the actual invoices and requests for payment. This would leave a sum of €86,210 still available under the loan facility.

He later received notice that the entire remaining balance of €86,210 had been paid to Adrian Delia, without his authorisation and without his having received any invoice or formal request for payment from Dr Delia. “I asked the bank for a copy of the cheque issued to Dr Delia and saw that it was made out in his personal name. But when I asked the bank for supporting documentation – the invoices against which they had paid out the cheque – I received invoices that made no sense and which were dated after the payment was made.”

In response to Mr Arcidiacono’s request, the bank first produced one invoice numbered 11/09 and dated 25 June 2009, issued by Aequitas Management Ltd, for just €48,450 and not for the whole amount that had been taken by Dr Delia. “I pointed out to the bank that I never deal with Aequitas Management, which is Dr Delia’s and Dr Sapiano’s business firm.”

After this, Boris Arcidiacono received another two invoices via HSBC as documentary back-up for the payments made in early June. This time, the invoices were issued by Aequitas Legal. One was numbered T6778 and dated 2 September 2009, for the sum of €48,450, replacing the earlier invoice issued by Aequitas Management Ltd, and the other numbered T6683, dated 23 June 2009 and for the sum of €37,760. Together, they conveniently made up the sum that was left in the loan facility after Mr Arcidiacono’s creditors had been paid.

“The tax invoices were both post-dated and issued by Aequitas Legal,” Mr Arcidiacono said, “but HSBC made out the cheque to Adrian Delia’s personal name. I asked for documentary proof of where and when he had deposited the cheque, but the bank was not able to give me that.

“I strongly suspect that the cheque was merely a formality and that Dr Delia came to some arrangement with the bank under which he would claim the amount left in my loan facility as fees due to him, without my consent or a supporting invoice presented to me, and this amount would be set off by the bank against what he himself owed the same bank.”

Adrian Delia has said in court meanwhile that Boris Arcidiacono had been informed about the payments. A bank official told the court that Dr Delia, while communicating with HSBC on the schedule of payments under the loan facility, had told the bank that he was due €120,000 (Lm50,000) as a “success fee for working on a case related to the company’s Msida showroom”.