DISTRIBUTION OF GERMAN ENEMY PROPERTY ORDINANCE *

DISTRIBUTION OF GERMAN ENEMY PROPERTY

CHAPTER 132

DISTRIBUTION OF GERMAN ENEMY PROPERTY

ORDINANCE *

To provide for the collection and realisation of German enemy property

and for the distribution of the proceeds thereof; and for purposes

connected with the matters aforesaid.

(20th April, 1951)

ORDINANCE I of 1951, as amended by Ordinance II of 1951; Legal

Notice 46 of 1965; Act LVIII of 1974; Legal Notice 148 of 1975; Act XIII of

1983; and Legal Notice 409 of 2007.

The short title of this Ordinance is the Distribution of

German Enemy Property Ordinance.

(1) In this Ordinance the following expressions have the

meanings hereby respectively assigned to them, that is to say

"German enemy debt" means -

(a) any sum due at the passing of this Ordinance in respect

of an obligation incurred before the 3rd September,

1939, which on that day was an obligation of any of

the following persons -

(i) the German State;

(ii) any individual who on that day was a German

national resident in Germany;

(iii) any body of persons (whether corporate or

unincorporate) which on that day was a body

incorporated or constituted in or under the laws

of Germany;

to any of the following persons -

(iv) the Maltese Imperial Government and the

Government of Malta;

(v) any British subject or British protected person

resident or carrying on business on that day in

Malta;

(vi) any body of persons (whether corporate or

unincorporate) which on that day was a body

incorporated or constituted under the laws in

force in Malta;

except that where any person or body of persons

specified in sub-paragraph (v) and (vi) hereof carried

on business on the said day both in and outside Malta,

any sum attributable to the business carried on outside

Malta shall be excluded;

(b) any sum, not included in paragraph (a) hereof, being -

*See also the Distribution of German Enemy Property Ordinance (Chapter 139).

DISTRIBUTION OF GERMAN ENEMY PROPERTY

(i)

a sum due at the passing of this Ordinance in

respect of any bond of the German External

Loan, 1924, or the German Government

International 5½ per centum Loan, 1930, being a

bond enfaced in accordance with the

Supplementary Agreement for the execution of

article 2 of the Anglo-German Transfer

Agreement of the 1st July, 1938;

(ii) a sum due on the 7th May, 1945, in respect of

any bond of the Austrian Government

International Loan, 1930, or the Austrian

Government Credit Anstalt Bonds, 1936, being a

bond enfaced as aforesaid;

(iii) a sum due on the 7th May, 1945, in respect of

any bond of the Austrian Government

International Guaranteed Loan 1933-53, or the

Austrian Government Guaranteed Conversion

Loan, 1934-59, which was in the beneficial

ownership of a British holder (within the

meaning of article 4 of the said Anglo-German

Transfer Agreement) on the 1st July, 1938; or

(iv) a sum due at the passing of this Ordinance in

respect of any bond of the Konversionskasse 4

per centum Sterling Bonds;

"German enemy property" means property which, on such day as

may be appointed by an order made under section 3 of this

Ordinance is, or at any time thereafter becomes, subject to control

under section 8 of the Trading with the Enemy Ordinance, 1939 * ,

being property, or the proceeds or income of property, which on or

at any time after the 3rd September, 1939, belonged to, or was held

or managed on behalf of -

(a) the German State;

(b) any individual who, on the said 3rd September, 1939,

or at any time thereafter was a German national

resident in Germany or in any territory under the

sovereignty of a State which on or at any time after the

said day was at war with His Majesty the King;

(c) any individual who was a German national on or at any

time after the said day and -

(i) was included among the persons specified in any

order made under subsection (2) of section 3 of

the Trading with the Enemy Ordinance, 1939*,

or

(ii) was a person whose property became subject to

control under section 8 of the said Ordinance at

a time when he was not an enemy within the

meaning of the said Ordinance;

(d) any body of persons (whether corporate or

*Omitted both in the 1942 Revised Edition and in this Revised Edition since it was

war legislation of a temporary nature.

DISTRIBUTION OF GERMAN ENEMY PROPERTY

unincorporate) which on or at any time after the said

day was a body incorporated or constituted in or under

the laws of Germany; and

(e) any body of persons (whether corporate or

unincorporate) which on or at any time after the said

day was controlled by any such individual or body as

is mentioned in paragraph (b), paragraph (c) or

paragraph (d) hereof;

"German national" does not include any person who acquired

German nationality by reason of the inclusion in the German State

after the 1st March, 1938, of any territory not comprised therein on

that day;

"Germany" means territory comprised in the German State on the

1st March, 1938;

"Malta" has the same meaning as is assigned to it in section 124

of the Constitution;

"order" means an order made by the President of Malta and

published in the Government Gazette;

"property" means immovable or movable property, and includes

any estate or interest in immovable or movable property, any

money, any negotiable instrument, debt or other right of action or

incorporeal movable, and any other right or interest whether in

possession or not;

"Trading with the Enemy Ordinance, 1939" means the Trading

with the Enemy Ordinance, 1939 * , as amended by or under any

other Ordinance.

(2) For the purposes of this Ordinance a person who at any time

was resident in Germany shall be deemed to have been a German

national at that time unless it is proved to the satisfaction of the

administrator within such time and in such manner as may be

prescribed by an order made under section 3 of this Ordinance, that

he was not a German national at that time.

(3) For the purposes of this Ordinance, property which or the

right to transfer which, is vested in the Custodian of Enemy

Property appointed under section 8 of the Trading with the Enemy

Ordinance, 1939*, and property which, by virtue of any order made

under the said section 8, cannot be dealt with without the consent of

the President of Malta, shall be deemed to be subject to control

under the said section 8.

(1) The President of Malta may by order make provision

for the collection and realization of German enemy property and

for the distribution of the proceeds thereof, to such extent as may

be prescribed by the order, to persons who establish claims in

respect of German enemy debts.

(2) Without prejudice to the generality of the preceding

subsection, an order under this section may make provision as to

*Omitted both in the 1942 Revised Edition and in this Revised Edition since it was

war legislation of a temporary nature.

DISTRIBUTION OF GERMAN ENEMY PROPERTY

the following matters

(a) the appointment of an administrator for the purposes

of the order, and the conferring and imposing on that

administrator of such powers and duties as may be

prescribed by the order;

(b) the transfer and vesting of German enemy property to

and in the administrator; and the discharge of any

person specified in the order from liability in respect

of things done or omitted to be done in relation to

property transferred from him to the administrator;

(c) the manner and time in which claims in respect of

German enemy debts are to be put forward and the

furnishing and verification of information in

connection with any such claims, including the

production of books and documents;

(d) the determination, as respects any such claims, of the

question whether the claim is established for the

purposes of the order and of the amount of the claim;

(e) the distribution from time to time of the proceeds of

the realization of German enemy property to persons

whose claims in respect of German enemy debts have

been established for the purposes of the order;

(f) the charging of fees to persons making claims in

respect of German enemy debts, and the recovery of

those fees by deduction from the amount to be

distributed as aforesaid or otherwise;

(g) the disposal of sums in the administrator’s hands

which, by reason of a failure to discover the

whereabouts of persons to whom the sums ought to be

distributed or for any other reason it is not practicable

to distribute;

(h) the transfer to Her Majesty’s Government in the

United Kingdom of the net surplus, if any, remaining

out of the proceeds of German enemy property after all

accepted claims against the same by creditors in Malta

have been settled.

(3) The administrator appointed under this section shall be

known under the name of Administrator of German Enemy

Property, and is in this Ordinance referred to as "the administrator".

(4) Without prejudice to the generality of the preceding

provisions of this section, an order made under this section may -

(a) exclude from the application of the order such classes

of claims as may be prescribed by the order;

(b) differentiate between different classes of claims, as

respects the priority in which payments are to be made

and the extent of the payments;

(c) make provision for enabling proceeds of German

enemy property which belonged to, or was held or

managed on behalf of, a particular person or body of

DISTRIBUTION OF GERMAN ENEMY PROPERTY

persons to be distributed to persons establishing claims

in respect of debts due from that person or body.

(5) The President of Malta may by further orders prescribe

forms for the purposes of any order made under this section and in

particular for the making of claims and the furnishing of

information.

(6) Notwithstanding anything in this section, the President of

Malta may give a direction to the administrator requiring him to

transfer to or for the benefit of any person specified in the direction

any German enemy property, or the proceeds of any German enemy

property, to which that person would have been entitled but for the

operation of the Trading with the Enemy Ordinance, 1939 * , or any

order made thereunder, and the administrator shall comply with any

such direction.

(7) Where any German enemy property, on or at any time after

the 3rd September, 1939, belonged to, or was held or managed on

behalf of, a German company, and it appears to the President of

Malta that the company was on the said day controlled directly or

indirectly, by a Maltese company, the President of Malta may treat

that property for the purposes of the last preceding subsection, to

such extent as the President of Malta thinks fit having regard to the

extent of the interest of the Maltese company in the German

company, as property to which the Maltese company would have

been entitled but for the operation of the Trading with the Enemy

Ordinance, 1939*, or any order made thereunder.

In this subsection, the expression "German company" means a

body incorporated in, or under the laws of, Germany, and the

expression "Maltese company" means a company formed under the

laws of Malta.

(1)

If any person who -

(a) is prohibited by or under an order made under the

preceding section from dealing with any German

enemy property otherwise than with the consent of the

administrator, or

(b) is required by or under such order to transfer German

enemy property to the administrator or otherwise to

deal with that property in accordance with the

directions of the administrator,

contravenes or fails to comply with the prohibition or requirement,

he shall be guilty of an offence under this section.

(2)

Any person who -

(a) without reasonable excuse, fails to comply with any

requirement made by or under any such order to

furnish information or to produce books or documents,

or

(b) in giving information for the purpose of any such order

*Omitted both in the 1942 Revised Edition and in this Revised Edition since it was

war legislation of a temporary nature.

DISTRIBUTION OF GERMAN ENEMY PROPERTY

knowingly or recklessly makes a statement which is

false in a material particular,

shall be guilty of an offence under this section.

(3) Any person who is guilty of an offence under this section

shall be liable -

(a) on conviction by the Court of Magistrates sitting as a

court of criminal judicature to a fine (multa) not

exceeding two hundred and thirty-two euro and ninety-

four cents (232.94) or to imprisonment for a term not

exceeding three months or to both such imprisonment

and such fine; or

(b) on conviction on indictment to a fine (multa) not

exceeding one thousand and one hundred and sixty-

four euro and sixty-nine cents (1,164.69) or to

imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or to

both such imprisonment and such fine.

(4) Where any offence under this section has been committed

by a body corporate, every person who at the time of the

commission of the offence was a director, general manager,

secretary or other similar officer of the body corporate, or was

purporting to act in any such capacity, shall be deemed to be guilty

of that offence unless he proves that the offence was committed

without his consent or connivance and that he exercised all such

diligence to prevent the commission of the offence as he ought to

have exercised having regard to the nature of his functions in that

capacity and to all the circumstances.

(5) Before criminal proceedings in respect of an offence under

this section are initiated, the Attorney General may direct -

(a) that the proceedings be instituted before a Court of

Magistrates sitting as a court of criminal inquiry, and,

on the record of the inquiry having been sent to the

Attorney General by the said court, the Attorney

General may either file in the Criminal Court an

indictment against the accused person or refer the case

back for trial on the same records by the same Court of

Magistrates sitting as a court of criminal judicature; or

(b) that the proceedings be instituted before a Court of

Magistrates sitting as a court of criminal judicature;

but at any time in the course of the proceedings before

sentence is passed, he may request that the person

accused be tried on indictment by the Criminal Court

and, on such request being made, the Court of

Magistrates shall continue the proceedings as a court

of criminal inquiry for the trial of the offence charged

by the Criminal Court.

(6) Without prejudice to the provisions contained in subsection

(5) of this section, any applicable provision of the Criminal Code

shall apply in respect of offences under this section.

Any power under this Ordinance to make orders shall

DISTRIBUTION OF GERMAN ENEMY PROPERTY

include a power to revoke or vary any orders made in pursuance of

that power.