As it happened: Brian Tonna and Nexia BT colleagues granted bail

Nexia BT managing partner Brian Tonna and three other associates were granted bail on Tuesday by a court hearing criminal charges against them. 

Tonna, his fellow Nexia BT partners Karl Cini and Manuel Castagna, and office manager Katrin Bondin Carter face charges of money laundering, forgery and other crimes in relation to inquiries into former OPM chief of staff Keith Schembri. They are all pleading not guilty. 

The court’s decision to allow them to walk free while proceedings against them continue means that each of the 11 people arrested and charged in the wide-ranging criminal investigation sparked by the Schembri inquiries has now been granted bail. 

Tonna and the other Nexia BT workers facing charges were the last of the 11 to be held in police custody, after a court granted Schembri and his co-accused bail on Monday at the third time of asking. 

Magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech told the court on Tuesday that she was pleased to see that investigations were progressing at a rapid pace and commended both the prosecution and defence of moving things along. 

She said the pace of investigations was at the heart of her decision to allow the accused to walk free. 

Tonna and...