Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1216530
2 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 1 MARCH 2020 SPORT LATEST RESULTS NEWS FA Trophy Balzan 0 Pietá Hotspurs 1 Balzan line-up: Kristijan Naumovski Augustine Loof Dale Camilleri (Paul Fenech-66) Shinobu Adekoya (Alfred Effiong-45) Steven Pisani Steven Bezzina (Stefan Dimic-66) Uros Ljubomirac Ivan Bozovic Ricardo Correa Duarte Samir Arab Luke Montebello Valletta line-up: Yenz Cini Ryan Camilleri Santiago Malano (Miguel Angel Alba-62) Bojan Kaljevic Matteo Piciollo (Steve Borg-70) Shaun Dimech (Nicholas Pulis-62) Jean Borg Enmy Pena Beltre Joseph Zerafa Triston Caruana Mario Fontanella Pietá Hotspurs line-up: Miguel Chetcuti Jake Ghio Dejan Vukovic Clive Gauci (James Scicluna-76) Nicholas Pisani (Trais Bartolo-86) Christian Sammut Jose Lucas Caetano Sheldon Mizzi Klian Amehi (Klian Amehi-82) Liam Mckay Irmiya Jalo Ishmaya Gudja United line-up: Jonathan Debono Jurgen Farrugia (Peter Paul Sammut-74) Jonathan Bondin Aidan Jake Friggieri Edison Bilbao Zarate Renold Winchester (Nivaldo Rodrigues Ferreira-82) Llyewlyn Cremona Gabriel Mensah Anderson De Barros Juan Andres Bolanos Justin Grioli (Lee Pisani-60) Scorers: Jose Lucas Caetano da Silva Referee: Fyodor Zammit Assistant Referees: Mitchell Scerri, Darko Stankovic Fourth Official: Slobodan Petrovic Yellow Cards: N. Pisani, R. Correa Referee: Trustin Farrugia Cann Assistant Referees: Duncan Sultana, James Muscat Fourth Official: Mario Apap Valletta 2 Gudja United 0 Scorers: Bojan Kaljevic (2) TODAY'S MATCHES Hibernians vs Hamrun Spartans 2pm Floriana vs Birkirkara 4.15pm MATTHEW VELLA PILATUS Bank owner Ali Sa- dr Hasheminejad tomorrow will stand trial in a court of the Southern District of New York, accused of having breached United States sanctions against Iran. The Iranian (pictured below) who obtained St Kitts & Nevis citizenship back in 2009, had his private bank shuttered by the Malta Financial Services Author- ity soon after his arrest at Dulles airport, Washington, in February 2018. His bank is undergoing a joint investigation by the MFSA and the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit. Hasheminejad is charged with having used the US and Swiss banking sys- tems to transfer mil- lions from a Venezuela housing project, to his Iranian family's con- struction business in Turkey, in breach of US sanctions against Iran. In the list of witnesses who will testify in the tri- al in New York, is also the chairman and founder of Henley & Partners, Chris- tian Kalin, who devised the sale of Maltese citizenship intro- duced by former prime minister Joseph Muscat. Hasheminejad obtained his St Kitts & Nevis citizenship in 2009 through the citizenship-by-in- vestment programme there for $250,000. The US indictment alleges that the Iranian International Housing Corporation, a private company incorporated in Iran and allegedly controlled by Hasheminejad and his family, contracted with a Ven- ezuelan state-owned company to build 7,000 housing units in Venezuela for approximately $476 million. The Venezuelan com- pany paid IIHC for its construction services by sending wire transfers in US dollars from its foreign bank accounts, to foreign bank accounts in Switzerland belonging to Clarity and Stratus Tur- key, controlled by the Irani- an business family. The Venezuelan com- pany made approximately fifteen payments to Stratus Turkey and Clarity, total- ling approximately $115 million between 2011 and 2013. Hasheminejad's lawyers claim the charges are based on false statements about his links to the Iranian government. "The April 2014 affidavit falsely claims that Sadr, his company (Clarity), his family, and his father's compa- ny (Stratus Group) have 'links' to 'entities that have been sanc- tioned by OFAC (Office of For- eign Asset Control)… for sup- porting Iran's nuclear weapons program, proliferation activities, and support of terrorism.' But the affidavit cites no evidence to sup- port this significant claim, and in fact, neither Sadr nor any of the individuals or entities described in this paragraph have any con- nections whatsoever to nuclear weapons or terrorism." The lawyers are also attacking the charge of sanctions breaches over the use of US dollars to Ira- nian beneficiaries, because the money was never directly wired to Iran from Venezuela, or stayed inside the United States or other European countries. "The government ultimately abandoned the false claim of US dollar transactions between Ven- ezuela and Iran in the October 2015 affidavit. Effectively admit- ting that its previous affidavits were deceitful, the government changed 'large, US-dollar trans- actions between Venezuela and Iran' to 'large, US-dollar-denomi- nated payments… which primari- ly originated from Venezuela' and 'disguise[d] the Iranian connec- tion of the recipients'." Pilatus owner New York trial on Iran sanctions tomorrow Henley & Partners owner Christian Kalin called to testify New cohabitation law in the offing KURT SANSONE A new cohabitation law is being proposed by the government that will overcome difficulties notaries had with the legislation enacted three years ago. Notaries were not registering cohabitation contracts or giving related advice despite the law having been enacted by Parliament in 2017. Justice Minister Edward Zammit Lewis is now expected to present Cabinet with a new law after talks with the Notarial Council helped clear the difficulties. Notaries who spoke to MaltaToday said the new law is expected to completely replace the one en- acted three years ago and not simply amend it. "The law enacted then was unworkable. The law will now be scrapped and replaced with a new one that enjoys the support of notaries," the notaries said. Notaries desisted from offering advice or pub- lishing cohabitation deeds because the 2017 law had a number of legal uncertainties, including issues linked to inheritance. Cohabitation was unregulated until then, leav- ing the weaker spouse in a relationship in a vul- nerable state. The situation has persisted for the past three years, given the reluctance of notaries to implement the law. "Hopefully, this situation will change very soon when government presents the new law to Par- liament," the notaries said. During a meeting on Thursday between Zam- mit Lewis and the Notarial Council, the minister said he will shortly present Cabinet with a new cohabitation law that will then be introduced to Parliament. Updates from Ali Sadr trial on MaltaToday.com.mt