Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1315450
14 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 6 DECEMBER 2020 NEWS The Flying Carpet Importers of hand-knotted Oriental carpets THE FLYING CARPET - OLD RAILWAY TRACK, ATTARD Mon - Tues, Thurs - Sat 10am – 12pm • Wednesday morning closed Mon - Fri – 4.30pm - 7pm Importers of: Various hand knotted carpets and Kilims, Non Slip Underlay, Dry and Liquid shampoo. Mobile No. 7953 MATTHEW AGIUS A United States district judge has rejected a request filed by the shuttered Pilatus Bank to summons an MFSA-appointed expert, for information it wants to use to file for damages against the European Central Bank. Pilatus's owners say that as the MFSA-appointed competent person, Connell has intimate knowledge of Pilatus's financial condition, and the merits of the ECB's and MFSA's "post hoc at- tempts to justify their decisions to shutter the bank and revoke its license." Pilatus has accused both the ECB and the MFSA of shuttering the bank because of falsely alleged crimes that pre- dated the bank's existence. Connell's information is re- quired to assess the level of damages, that Pilatus will re- quest from the European Cen- tral Bank, in the courts. In a ruling this week, Justice Joseph A. DiClerico denied the request for 'discovery' by New Hampshire resident Lawrence Connell, appointed by the MF- SA to take over operations at the shuttered private bank. The revocation of the Mal- ta-based private bank, contro- versial for its close association to members of the Azerbaijani ruling dynasty, came in March 2018 when owner Ali Sadr Hasheminejad was arrested in the U.S.A., on charges of having violated the sanctions regime against Iran. But in an unprecedented turn of events, after first being found guilty by the New York court, the United States District Attor- ney filed a nolle prosequi, effec- tively throwing the sponge over a grievous error in withholding evidence from the Hashemine- jad defence team. The courts have since expunged the guilty verdict. Pilatus's German lawyer, Otto Hendrik Behrends, claimed that the ECB revoked the bank's li- cence on the prompting of the MFSA after the wrongful ar- rest of Pilatus owner Ali Sadr Hasheminejad. The MFSA or- dered the removal of Hashem- inejad and appointed Connell as "competent person" to take charge of the bank. Behrends said Connell is a key witness in an annulment action at the European Court of Jus- tice, because he is at the centre of MFSA's decisions and has knowledge of ECB's "improper motives" to shut down the bank. Behrends told the court Pila- tus intended to file an action for damages against the ECB because of the decision to with- draw its authorisation, and re- quired Connell's information on the bank. But the judge noted that the applicants had not provided any proof as to why it believed the address for Lawrence Connell in Rye Beach, New Hampshire, was indeed correct – a key con- cept in such discovery applica- tions. The judge also said Pilatus re- quired more than a "subjective intent" for legal action against its intended target, the ECB, and had to provide an indication that action is being contemplat- ed: "Pilatus Bank has not indi- cated where the action might be brought or what claims it would raise against the ECB," the judged said, saying the action appeared "merely speculative" and no "more than just a twin- kle in counsel's eye." As a result, Pilatus had not shown that the requested dis- covery would be used in a damages action, but limited to a pending annulment action against the ECB in the Europe- an Court of Justice for the bank licence. Pilatus can now serve an amended petition until the end of the month, failing which judgment will be entered and the case will be closed. Pilatus has accused both the ECB and the MFSA of shutter- ing the bank because of falsely alleged crimes that predated the bank's existence. "At the time of the indictment, the Maltese Financial Services Authority and Malta's political leaders were besieged by international ac- cusations of 'looking the other way' while Malta's banks enabled money laundering and global sanctions viola- tions." Hasheminejad ran a pri- vate bank in Malta, which he had licensed in 2013, and which largely dealt with millions in reserves owned by the Azerbaija- ni ruling family and oli- garchs. His bank was implicated in the Egrant affair, when the late journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia claimed the bank had processed a $1 million payment from the Aliyevs of Azerbai- jan to the wife of former prime minister Joseph Muscat. The allegation was disproven by a Maltese magisterial inquiry along with other allegations she made about Pilatus Bank, but by then the banks' other dealings for Azerbaijan had come under the lens of financial investiga- tors. When Hasheminejad was arrested in Dulles airport in the United States in February 2018, the Maltese financial regulator shut down the bank and started an investigation. Pilatus denied MFSA expert's 'discovery' The revocation of the Malta-based private bank, controversial for its close association to members of the Azerbaijani ruling dynasty, came in March 2018 when owner Ali Sadr Hasheminejad was arrested in the U.S.A., on charges of having violated the sanctions regime against Iran.