By Julian Bonnici
A €650,000 loan routed through a Maltese company linked to one of the country’s fish farm operators is now under scrutiny. This follows the seizure of approximately €50 million in assets tied to convicted mafia associate Emanuele Catania in Sicily.
Court documents analysed by Amphora Media and IrpiMedia reveal how Medina Ridge Holding Limited, a Malta-registered company now in dissolution, financed Emanuele Catania’s purchase of shares in Azzurra Pesca, a company that operated a tuna-farming vessel, named ‘Angelo Catania’, in 2012.
Medina Ridge Holding has had the same shareholders as Fish & Fish Limited, which holds 10 aquaculture permits and is one of Malta’s five fish farm operators, primarily dealing in bluefin tuna.
Medina Ridge was founded in 2012, the same year it lent money to Emanuele Catania. At the time, it was owned by Emanuel Azzopardi and Joseph Caruana. Both men have since died, with their heirs now serving as the shareholders. David Azzopardi, now a minor shareholder, was the company secretary at the time of the deal and has been serving as the company’s director since 2018.
David Azzopardi confirmed the transactions when responding to questions from journalists. He said that “any funds lent to the representative of the company for the purpose of acquiring additional shares in Azzurra Pesca Srl have either been repaid or settled through services rendered”.
“The companies I represent have a quota to manage aquaculture farms in Malta, and the business has always been conducted in compliance with legal requirements,” he said.
He stressed that neither he nor the companies he represents were aware “of any investigations or allegations against the company [Azzurra Pesca]”.
How €650,000 From Malta Ended Up in Mafia-Linked Fishing Firm
Azzopardi and Caruana took over Fish and Fish in 1996 and remained the primary shareholders until their deaths. Azzopardi and Caruana’s shares were transferred to their heirs in 2019 and 2021, respectively.
According to official documents, the €650,000 “loan” was transferred from Malta in two tranches via Bank of Valletta. A €400,000 transfer was made on 19 April 2012, followed by a €250,000 transfer on 27 July; Medina Ridge ordered both.
These sums were used to purchase the full shareholding of Azzurra Pesca for €643,000. The exact source of the €650,000 remains unknown to investigators.
Azzurra Pesca and Catania himself would later come under investigation by Italian anti-mafia prosecutors.
Catania was convicted of mafia association for his role in helping the Rinzivillo faction of Cosa Nostra infiltrate Sicily’s legal economy and launder illicit proceeds through the seafood trade.
He was ruled to be an active member of the Rinzivillo mafia clan. He was found to have played a key entrepreneurial role in supporting the group’s infiltration of the legal economy, using legitimate businesses to launder illicit funds.
Court records describe the Catania family as long-standing operators in the fishing industry in the Southern Sicilian town of Gela, beginning with the launch of the seafood business ‘Fratelli Catania’ in 1978, represented legally by the same Emanuele Catania.
In court documents, Catania is also described as having allegedly acted as a trusted man for the Rinzivillo mafia clan, including expansions into Morocco.
A Guardia di Finanza press release has revealed that Italian police have seized assets worth approximately €50 million. This includes real estate, fishing vessels, company shares, and business complexes with operations spanning Sicily, Italy, and Morocco.
Azzurra Pesca, Fish & Fish and The ‘Angelo Catania’ Vessel
The document also names the ‘Angelo Catania’, the fishing vessel purchased with funds transferred through Medina Ridge.
David Azzopardi confirmed that Fish & Fish purchased fish from “quotas assigned annually to the fishing vessel ‘Angelo Catania’ by the Ministero dell’Agricoltura, della Sovranità Alimentare e delle Foreste and registered with ICCAT, the international governing body regulating the conservation of bluefin tuna.”
He added that the fish purchases from Azzurra Pesca Srl “were carried out in compliance with all regulatory requirements.”
“These transactions were registered in the e-BCD system and monitored by both ICCAT observers and regional observers appointed by the Italian Government. Official documents will show that fish were purchased as part of a quota both when the assets of the company were under management and during the period when a court-appointed curator managed the company’s assets between 2007 and 2014, and then again from 2019 to 2021.”
He stressed that neither he nor the companies he represents were aware “of any investigations or allegations against the company”.
Azzopardi says Italian or Maltese authorities have never contacted him or the companies he represents.
Medina Ridge Holding’s corporate accounts for 2012, published around seven years late in 2019, following Catania’s 2017 arrest, appear to reflect the loan, with a €650,000 entry under “other receivables”.
There is scant record of the €650,000 beyond that year, and it could have been absorbed into a growing line of “Loans to third parties”, which ballooned over subsequent years to €4 million by 2016 and remained at that level until being fully repaid in one single year in 2020.
Meanwhile, borrowings “due to shareholders” hit €5.33 million by 2023, and were entirely waived in 2023.
Malta’s Police said it was not in a position to confirm or otherwise when asked for a response on the court documents.
Who Is Behind Medina Ridge?
At the time of the 2012 loan, Medina Ridge Holding Limited was owned by two Maltese nationals: Joseph Caruana and Emanuel Azzopardi. Both are now deceased.
The two men were the owners of Fish and Fish, one of Malta’s main fish farm operators, from 1996 until their deaths. Their shares in Medina Ridge were transferred to their heirs in May 2024.
Medina Ridge is currently in dissolution, which was announced after the heirs took over in June 2024.
The company did not publish audited financial statements for the first seven years of its operations. Accounts for 2012 were published in 2019, while accounts from 2013 to 2024 were published in 2024.