Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1032158
maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 26 SEPTEMBER 2018 3 NEWS KARL AZZOPARDI MALTA Bandclub Association Presi- dent Noel Camilleri, has said that the association has approached the Holy Trinity Band club over a report pub- lished on Sunday. The report revealed how the band club was refusing admission based on skin colour, while stating that the re- fusal was due to a membership policy adopted by the association. Asked whether an investigation had been conducted into the report, Camilleri said that before an investiga- tion can be launched, both sides of the story must be heard. "We have approached the band club to hear their explanation of the story. An investigation will be launched de- pending on the outcome," Camilleri said. A spokesperson for the Maltese dio- cese has said that band clubs do not fall under the jurisdiction of the church. On Monday, Archbishop Charles Scicluna invited Ahmed Bugre to a Mass held in the Holy Trinity Parish Church in Marsa. After the Mass, Bugre was invited by the Archbishop to a dialogue with the bandclub president and clubs officials. Marsa parish priest, Carmelo Aqui- lina was also in attendance. Band Club president Clinton Sam- mut, refrained from commenting on the report, stating that he and other officials would not be giving any com- ments, as an internal discussion on the report is underway. Malta Band Club Association reacts to Marsa band club admission policy Noel Camilleri MATTHEW VELLA A Russian national with Maltese citi- zenship has been identified as the sub- ject of a Finnish criminal investigation on money laundering. The businessman, Pavel Eduardovic Melnikov, was said to be a resident of Hungary, but has a residence in Malta at Fort Cambridge, Tigné. He has reportedly been buying up is- lands and land from around the Turku archipelago, a strategic military point in southwest Finland close to Russia, through the Finnish company Ariston Helmi. A massive police investigation was underway this week as dozens of stra- tegic developments constructed by the company Ariston Helmi – heli- pads, quays and bridges and connect- ing roads – were built over a period of seven years at a cost of €9.2 million. Now Finnish national police are sus- pecting a "colossal operation" of mon- ey laundering, which has led to the ar- rest of two individuals and seven other questioned, as well as the seizure of military vessels procured by the Finn- ish company. The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) carried out an extensive search of many business premises linked to the company suspected of running a money laundering operation dealing in millions of euros, and utilising il- legal labour. The NBI said it has been carrying out a preliminary investiga- tion into the case for months with the assistance of the Tax Administration. "Preliminary investigation of the case has led to suspicions of aggravated money laundering and aggravated tax fraud, among other things. Ownership of the limited company in question has been traced to another EU coun- try, and people from several countries have been questioned," said NBI in- spector Markku Ranta-aho. The NBI has enlisted the help of the Finnish Border Guard and the South- west Finland Police Department in the massive search operation, which has included over 100 officers. Ranta-aho says a ban on air traffic in the region is in effect for the duration of the search operation, and maritime traffic near the areas under investiga- tion may be limited. Russian with Maltese citizenship in €10m money laundering probe CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Doing so would reveal methods and banking in- formation related to third parties who were not in the public sphere, he said. "I felt the PM's argument was valid as he needed the full evidential basis of the inquiry. In my opinion… to be released to the PM, I felt this should be up- held. Subsequently the PM was taking advice to see whether or not to publish the inquiry. The Minister for Justice asked if I had an electronic copy and I passed it on to him as he is a lawyer who was assist- ing the PM in the analysis of the inquiry." Galea seized on this point. "Is the Minister for Justice therefore a lawyer for the Prime Minister?" "I know he was assisting him on the topic of the inquiry and therefore I passed on a copy to him," the AG said. "I understand that the Prime Minister isn't going to be looking at it alone, he has people as- sisting him in studying it." Asked if the copy given to the Prime Minister had been altered, Grech re- plied that "the office of the AG doesn't redact its in- quiries." Galea pressed the Attor- ney General as to why he had not released a copy to the Leader of the Opposi- tion or at least informed him that it had been con- cluded, but Grech replied that he had released a statement once he was giv- en a copy of the report. "I made it clear in the statement I released in July that the inquiry wasn't go- ing to be published in full, despite requests coming in from all angles. It con- tained private banking information belonging to people who had nothing to do with the issue…I didn't feel it was right to be made public." Grech said this inquiry was different from those into the Paqpaqli crash or PlusOne collapse – both of which were made pub- lic – in that "this one has parts that need to be inves- tigated further. Publishing could cause harm to pri- vacy and future investiga- tions," he explained. Galea then asked wheth- er he had in the past ever shown journalists copies of inquiries. "There was a case where someone died at Depot and it was decided where the process verbal be made available to journalists, but copies were not given. The same with an inquiry into an explosion at a fireworks factory. In the PlusOne and Paqpaqli inquiries I had given copies to the minister of justice on his request. I knew he was go- ing to publish them." But those inquiries had conclusively finished, blame allocated and peo- ple arraigned, he said. This was not the case with Egrant. "Were the conclusions published in their entire- ty?" asked Galea. "The principal conclu- sions were," replied the Attorney General. The case continues on October 9. Attorney General Peter Grech Lawyer questions minister's role as PM's 'advisor' on Egrant inquiry