Progress Press has initiated legal proceedings to recoup US$5 million from Keith Schembri and two of its former top officials. The company said in a statement released on Wednesday that it had filed judicial protests in court against Schembri, who formerly served as chief of staff at the Office of the Prime Minister, Adrian Hillman and Vincent Buhagiar. The action comes after police began criminal proceedings against Schembri and Buhagiar for alleged bribery and money laundering and extradition proceedings for UK-based Hillman, linked to a massive investment undertaken by the printing company. Progress Press is a subsidiary of Allied Group, publishers of Times of Malta. A court heard last month how prosecutors had traced large sums of money moving into bank accounts controlled by Schembri, Hillman and Buhagiar and believed that Progress Press had significantly overpaid for machinery it bought from Schembri’s company Kasco. At the time, Hillman served as the company’s managing director while Buhagiar was chairman of the Progress Press board. The company said that Schembri, Hillman, Buhagiar, as well as co-accused Malcolm Scerri, Alfio Schembri and Kasco Engineering Ltd pocketed...