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MALTATODAY 7 July 2019

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YOUR FIRST READ AND CLICK OF THE DAY WWW.MALTATODAY.COM.MT maltatoday €1.95 2 today today today SUNDAY • 7 JULY 2019 • ISSUE 1027 • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY PAGE 4 Joseph Muscat What will he do next? 12-13 Trust Barometer 6 LEADER 18 Michael Falzon 23 FIAU fines Satabank €3.5 million THE Financial Intelligence Anal- ysis Unit has fined Satabank a reported €3.5 million for various regulatory breaches. The bank had been under the control of auditors from Ernst & Young after the Malta Financial Services Authority ordered it to cease all business activity, and was the subject of a joint inspec- tion by both the MFSA and FIAU over shortcomings in the bank's anti-money laundering proce- dures. The police have since been in- volved, investigating what could be billions in euros which passed through the bank's payment channels. All 12,000 of Satabank's ac- counts were frozen by the MFSA, with controlled releases affected by EY. Sources in the financial regula- tor told MaltaToday that billions of euros passed through the bank in high-risk transactions, cit- ing lax controls and lack of due diligence controls on the transac- tions. This was the first time in Mal- tese banking history that the MF- SA, in coordination with the Cen- tral Bank of Malta and the FIAU, had taken such action against a retail and commercial bank. The joint inspection is combing through each account to ensure that any questionable funds do not leave the Paceville bank. Casino rivals mull action over state aid rules' breach MATTHEW VELLA BUSINESS operators outraged by the 64-year extension to the Dragonara ca- sino concession are considering taking legal action over alleged breach of state aid rules. MaltaToday was told that members of the business community had already been provided with a legal memoran- dum on why the Casma Ltd concession, approved by both sides of the House, was a potential breach of state aid rules. Despite its approval in the House, La- bour government sources have insisted that the concession was not discussed within the Cabinet, and suggested that Casma chairman Edward Gatt only re- signed recently in April to avoid signing the concession. Lawyer Edward Gatt, who in the past backed economy minister Chris Car- dona's bid to become PL deputy leader, however, denied having resigned over any misgivings he had on the contested concession due to it not being released on a public tender or expression of in- terest. Gatt resigned as Casma chairman on 29 April, but no replacement was ap- pointed by Cardona since then. Gaming industry players are up in arms after the Dragonara casino op- erators received a 64-year extension to their lease agreement, without a com- petitive tender. The casino concession was first granted to Dragonara Gam- ing (DGL) in 2010, for a 10-year lease. The company is co-owned by Johann Schembri and the Bianchi Group. The lease includes the land immediately surrounding the building. PAGE 3 Casma chairman Edward Gatt resigned before Dragonara concession was signed, but denies having had misgivings on controversial extension FREE with MaltaToday FREE with MaltaToday FREE with MaltaToday FREE with MaltaToday MARK SULTANA It's not only about bird protection, BirdLife's execu- tive director says INTERVIEW 16-17

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