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Interrogated in court by Valle del Miele lawyer Shazoo Ghaznavi, Priceclub shareholder and director Wallace Fino said he did not verify the accounts of the now collapsed Priceclub chain.
The man that, according to so many of Priceclub’s suppliers, had given assurances that they would be paid, said he never verified the financial figures because “they passed through the hands of the financial controller and the auditors.”
In evidence given in other court cases many of Priceclub’s suppliers have claimed that Wallace Fino always assured them that the supermarket giant was only facing temporary problems and would pay its overdue debts.
In June of 2001 the largest supermarket chain in Malta, owned by Victor Zammit, Wallace Fino and Christopher Gauci, crashed spectacularly with debts owed to suppliers of goods amounting to Lm8 million. The suppliers do not expect to recover any money.
When questioned about the company accounts, Fino said the company’s financial controller, David Demarco, was responsible towards the Board of Directors, which together with Zammit and Gauci, included himself.
Fino, who told the court he earned a salary of between Lm15,000 and Lm18,000 from Priceclub said his responsibilities were limited to being responsible for purchasing.
Fino was asked by the lawyer whether, as purchasing director, he was in a position to deduce whether or not the company was improving financially or was in a precarious position. He replied: “From information that was presented to the Board, the monthly management accounts, six monthly reviews and the audited accounts, when compared to financial projections, I had confidence that the company’s prospects were good.” But then added: “I based myself on those accounts. I am not a technical person, I am not an accountant.”
Fino told advocate Ghaznavi that his position was more of a strategic one than a day to day one, and that in fact he did not involve himself in the everyday running of the business. Fino said that he was the head of a department of three purchasing managers that eventually increased to six or seven.
When asked who the purchasing managers were responsible to, Fino replied that their seniors were the operations director, Christopher Gauci, or the operations managers Alex Curmi, Antoine Mallia and for a period of six or seven months, Andy Whivle.
Fino said his company had computerised stock records, but when pressed by the lawyer to state when the system was introduced and whether it was fully integrated, Fino said: “As far as I know we did not have a computerised system for stocktaking. I do not know how to reply to the question because it was not my area of duty.”
Quizzed as to whether the computerised stock records were relied upon or whether the stock figures had to be checked visually, Fino said the store managers “used to go in front of the shelves to check what they need.”
Fino was giving evidence in the court case instituted by Valle del Miele Ltd against the Priceclub Directors for wrongful and fraudulent trading.
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