Satabank owner would not have passed proper due diligence by MFSA – Jason Azzopardi

The owner of Satabank would not have passed a proper due diligence test by the Maltese authorities, PN MP Jason Azzopardi said in Parliament Tuesday evening.

Speaking during adjournment time, Azzopardi said the Bulgarian owner of the troubled bank Cristo Georgiev – had previously operated in the financial services industry in Luxembourg. When he realised that he was being investigated by the Luxembourg FIAU over “money laundering and corruption,” Georgiev closed down that business and relocated to Malta, where he opened a bank, Azzopardi claimed.

“The Malta Financial Services Authority did not carry out proper due diligence. He (the bank owner) would have been rejected,” the MP claimed.

The Luxembourg FIAU had sent its Maltese counterpart a 300-word report but Malta did not take any action on it. “The government wanted there to be another bank so that money from certain projects could be deposited there.”

Azzopardi said that Bluestone Investment Ltd of Mark Pawley – the owner of Vitals Global Healthcare – had opened an account at Satabank in 2014. The PN MP noted that Opposition Leader Adrian Delia had gone to court over the “corrupt” hospitals deal, which is worth some €2.1 billion.

He also noted that the people behind the hospital had signed a memorandum of understating a year before the government had issued a request for proposals for the running of three hospitals.

He said every contract in which Konrad Mizzi was involved should be investigated. “17 Black was not the only company ... there was MacBridge as well in Dubai.”

Azzopardi said the people cannot keep suffering because of the inaction of the institutions, either because they are spineless or because they are corrupt.