MFSA chairman not ready to resign
Opposition leader Simon Busuttil holds yesterday’s The Malta Independent, which revealed that the FIAU and the MFSA had come up with a damning report on Pilatus Bank.
Malta Financial Services Authority Chairman Prof Joe Banister is not ready to resign after yesterday’s story revealed by The Malta Independent on the €1 million transferred into the bank account of a politically exposed person, as indicated in a report by the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit.
Prof Banister was contacted by this newsroom and asked if he will resign after it transpired that the MFSA was fully aware that a million euros was transferred to a dubious account appertaining to politically exposed persons (PEP) at Pilatus Bank.
The Malta Independent revealed that evidence which reached this newspaper from a source who worked closely with Pilatus Bank until a few months ago suggests that an FIAU investigation into Pilatus Bank on dubious accounts held for PEPs in Malta and Azerbaijan resulted in a scathing report which has been kept secret by the authorities privy to such reports. The MFSA investigated the goings on at Pilatus Bank together with the FIAU.
This newsroom yesterday asked the MFSA chairman why he had not taken action against the bank in question over serious shortcomings identified under his watch as the banking regulator, Prof Banister said, “The chairman has no access to supervisory reports. Please check the MFSA Act.”
He was also asked him why the MFSA had not given Pilatus Bank the same treatment given to Nemea Bank, which had its licence rescinded, when both are private banks, but Prof Banister did not furnish a reply.
Two months ago the European Central Bank (ECB) withdrew Nemea Bank’s licence, in line with a recommendation made by the MFSA in January of this year. The MFSA had proposed to the ECB the withdrawal of the licence held by Nemea Bank and the Authority had also put a hold on withdrawals of deposits from the bank.
This newsroom is informed that MFSA had carried out an on-site examination at Pilatus Bank between 15 and 22 March 2016 and Prof Banister had it but failed to take action.
The source who spoke to this newspaper about the FIAU report and who backed up the claims with documents from the bank said that, “In one particular bank account, the equivalent of approximately €1,000,000 was transferred into an account classified as highrisk from the bank account of a third party. No documentary evidence was recorded on file on the origin of the funds. Furthermore, this third party made a number of other significant deposits to different bank accounts pertaining to companies owned by the same UBOs (PEPs in a high risk jurisdiction) within a short period of time.”
No names of PEPs were mentioned in the document seen by this newsroom. “In another transaction, the equivalent of approximately €505,000 was deposited into the same client’s bank account from the bank account of a third party.”
According to our informer, “During the investigation it was noted that no information on the source of the funds was recorded. The Money Laundering Reporting Officer (MLRO) claimed that a check has been carried out on the third party through an internet search and through the SWIFT program itself which runs all details against sanction lists. However, no supporting evidence was found on file.”
Malta has been rocked by allegations made by Egrant whistleblower that the Prime Minister’s wife, Michelle Muscat, is the ultimate beneficial owner of Egrant Inc. Egrant is the third company acquired by the managing director of Nexia BT, Brian Tonna, alongside the Panama companies of Minister Konrad Mizzi and Office of the Prime Minister chief of staff Keith Schembri. A magisterial inquiry led by Magistrate Aaron Bugeja is investigating all these allegations and revelations which led the country into a snap election.