Bond issue regulatory scrutiny: Silvio Debono, his factotum Arthur Gauci, and their methods
I have received the email below from a contractor I know. Silvio Debono is the majority shareholder of Seabank Hotel and Catering Ltd. Arthur Gauci has been his general factotum for several years and acts as CEO because Debono is barely literate.
This information, which I have heard from other sources too – who did not permit me to quote them even anonymously – is particularly important. SD Finance plc, the vehicle Debono and Gauci set up with the advisory services provided by the deputy leader of the Opposition, Mario Demarco, is now coming up for regulatory scrutiny and approval for a bond issue which will finance the construction of ‘DB City Centre’, the conglomeration of flats, shops and a token Hardrock hotel which Silvio Debono plans to build on the public land at St George’s Bay, gifted to him by the Muscat government through Konrad Mizzi’s Projects Malta.
The process of scrutiny and approval is extremely tough to avoid, as far as possible, the risks to other people’s money – a bond issue is simply borrowing money from the public and corporate investors. It is not only the project itself which is scrutinised, but the promoters of the project and their attitude towards issues of corporate governance. The email follows.
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I have had first hand experience, through doing work for the Seabank Group, of Arthur Gauci asking me for fictitious invoices in order for him to be able to submit them to their bank and withdraw funds from their project facility.
I had similar first hand experience when they were in a partnership with third parties, and Gauci requested fictitious invoices to submit to their partners, so as to shift their share of costs onto them.
I have no idea whether they made further use of these invoices in connection with tax and VAT liabilities, but the obvious conclusion is that, once they had them available, they would have done.
I worked as a contractor to the Seabank operation until I got sick of their methods. The final straw came when, during one of my last encounters with Silvio Debono, he threatened me physically because I was putting pressure on them to settle their dues.
Silvio Debono
Arthur Gauci