Malta-based company denies involvement in Azerbaijani Laundromat scheme
● Dates of incorporation and alleged money transfer fail to add up
A Malta-based company that the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project last month alleged had received just USD11,391 through the Azerbaijani Laundromat slush fund has denied any involvement whatsoever in the scheme.
The Azerbaijani Laundromat revelations at the beginning of September had showed how a complex money-laundering operation and slush fund for the Azerbaijani regime handled US$2.9 billion over a twoyear period through four shell companies registered in the UK.
According to the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, just over half a million US dollars were found to have been transferred through Malta as part of the scheme.
Not only do the amounts appear to be small change in comparison to the global US$2.9 billion believed to have been involved in the scheme, but the payments in which Malta is involved all appear to feed into the system rather than being on the receiving end.
The one payment that, according to the OCCRP database, made its way to Malta was of US$11,391 on 23 August 2013, this time forwarded by Metastar Invest, one of the UK companies implicated in the scheme, to a Malta-based company named Wise Holding Limited.
Wise Holding, which had allegedly received the one payment from Metastar, is 99.99% owned by Artur Lukasiewicz.
Lukasiewicz has, however, denied any involvement whatsoever in the slush fund. In fact, while the OCCRP database clearly states that the payment to the Malta-based Wise Holding had been made in August 2013, the company in Malta had actually been established nine months later in May 2014. Additional research undertaken by this newspaper has verified the dates in question.
Lukasiewicz states, “Neither myself nor the company have ever been involved in any relations with the companies listed in the article. For my entire business career I have always acted diligently, complying with and driven by the highest ethical and business standards.”