‘They’ll be accusing me of manipulating the FBI next’ Casa says

Nationalist Party MP David Casa yesterday condemned the “laughable attempt to clear Pilatus Bank on the basis of the partpublished inquiry”.

Casa, who has spearheaded calls for regulatory action to be taken against the bank, stated: “It is no surprise that Pilatus Bank decided that it too should exploit the spin and disinformation campaign currently going on in an effort to clear Labour Party politicians of all wrongdoing on the basis of an inquiry that had little to do with them.”

Pilatus Bank’s claim that part-published Egrant inquiry cleared it of all wrongdoing is “ridiculous and deplorable”, Casa said.

“Pilatus Bank’s presence in Malta constituted a threat to Malta’s financial services industry and brought illicit funds to Malta and possibly the criminals that used them. It is for this reason I have worked to ensure that the authorities did their duty with regard to Pilatus Bank.

“Since October 2017 I have written to the MFSA, the European Central Bank, the Eu- ropean Banking Authority, the National Crime Agency, the Prudential Regulation Authority, international FIUs, the Egmont Group and MONEYVAL. The focus of my work has never been anything related to the contents of the part-published report.”

Pilatus Bank, Casa observed, is in “serious trouble because its owner is a sloppy money launderer, with an apparent history of money laundering, and because the bank, according to prosecutors in the United States, was set up with the proceeds of crime.

“Pilatus Bank continues to be the bank that, according to the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit, laundered money for Keith Schembri and his associates and laundered money for the Azeri ruling family. Moreover, its owner remains under house arrest in the US facing a 125-year prison term.

“The brazen, unashamed manner in which Pilatus Bank is attempting to latch onto the results of the part-published inquiry is nothing short of an attempt to pervert and obstruct justice.”