Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1440009
6 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 2 JANUARY 2022 NEWS Call for Applications: The Broadcasting Authority is seeking to fill the post of Programme Monitors A detailed job description is to be found on the Broadcasting Authority's website: http://www.ba.org.mt. Applicants must submit a letter of application together with a detailed copy of their CV by: • e-mail to administration.ba@ba.org.mt • not later than noon, Friday 7 th January 2022 Late applications will not be considered Jobs Plus Permit 580/2021 The Broadcasting Authority is a constitutional entity which regulates, licences and monitors all radio and television broadcasts originating from the Maltese Islands. Broadcasting Authority 7, Mile End Road, ĦAMRUN ĦMR 1719, Malta. Telephone: +356 2201 6000 Vacancies in the Ministry for Health The Ministry for Health is seeking to employ: Retired/Retiring Public Officers within the Nursing Grades to perform duties on a full- time/part-time basis within the Ministry for Health. Eligible applicants must be: • Nurses who have reached retirement age (not more than 70 years of age) (or are expected to reach retirement age by the 31st December 2021, AND who were either retired/retiring public officers A copy of the call as advertised in the Government Gazette of Friday, 24th December 2021 may be obtained from the People Management Division (contact details below). Applications are to be received through the Government Recruitment Portal only through the following link https://recruitment.gov.mt by not later than 17:15hrs (Central European Time) of Friday, 7 th January 2022 Any further information may be obtained from the: People Management Division 15, Palazzo Castellania, Merchants Street, Valletta, VLT 1171, Malta Telephone: +356 22992604 Email: recruitment.health@gov.mt MINISTRY FOR HEALTH 15, Palazzo Castellania, Merchants Street, Valletta, VLT 1171, Malta Tel: 22992604 Email: recruitment.health@gov.mt MATTHEW VELLA A European Central Bank official is fighting efforts by Pilatus Bank owners Alpene Ltd, to force her to turn over information which the bank claims will shed light on an allegedly politically moti- vated campaign to seize the as- sets of the bank. Elizabeth McCaul, a member of the ECB supervisory board and a former executive at the consulting firm Promonto- ry Financial Group, is urging a New York federal court to overturn its prior order grant- ing a request for discovery from Alpene Ltd. Alpene is claiming "direct and intimate knowledge of the al- leged corruption" of Maltese officials in connection with the controllership of the shuttered private bank, in a legal bid to question McCaul, who assist- ed in the bank's controllership when it was shut down by the European Central Bank in Feb- ruary 2018. Alpene has already attempt- ed a similar request with for- mer Pilatus Bank controller Lawrence Connell, who was appointed by the Malta Finan- cial Services Authority to take over the bank after the arrest of Hasheminejad in March 2018 in the United States. Connell was a Promontory employee at the time of his ap- pointment by the MFSA to act as Pilatus Bank's 'competent person' taking over the bank's running. McCaul described Alpene's and Pilatus Bank's lawsuits as "a continuation of Sadr's scorched-earth litigation strat- egy" and accused Ali Sadr Hasheminejad of harassment "by pursuing irrelevant inquir- ies and invading communica- tions and documents protected from disclosure." McCaul said Alpene's applica- tion is "an attempted end run" around a previous US court de- cision denying Hasheminejad's prior attempt to obtain the same discovery from Connell. The revocation of the Mal- ta-based private bank's licence, controversial for its close as- sociation to members of the Azerbaijani ruling dynasty, came in March 2018 when owner Hasheminejad was ar- rested in the U.S.A. But in an unprecedented turn of events, after first being found guilty by the New York court, the United States District Attorney filed a nolle prosequi, effective- ly throwing the sponge over a grievous error in withholding evidence from the Hashemine- jad defence team. The courts have since expunged the guilty verdict. McCaul has kicked back against attempts by Alpene to obtain information from her, saying her recommendation of Connell to take over control- lership of Pilatus, has no bear- ing on whether Malta treated Pilatus Bank more or less fa- vourably than similarly situat- ed Maltese domestic banks, "a comparison presumably that requires looking at how Mal- ta has dealt with other banks whose chairmen and sole own- ers were arrested for money laundering and sanctions vio- lations." McCaul also said that it was Promontory Financial Group who provided Connell's name and facilitated an introduction to the MFSA, who in turn se- lected Connell. Alpene has accused Connell of having "drained the bank of its assets and funnel substantial portions of those assets into Mamo TCV, the law firm of the MFSA's incoming chairman, Prof. John Mamo." Alpene has alleged Connell sold Pilatus's assets, converted them into euros, turned over the liquid assets to the Central Bank "and funnel substantial portions of the bank's assets into the hands of corrupt offi- cials… Alpene has been forced to watch as its investment is destroyed and pillaged." Alpene has now demand- ed restitution and additional compensation and damages for the losses it has suffered, filing a case against the Maltese gov- ernment in the World Bank's International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Dis- putes (ICSID). mvella@mediatoday.com.mt ECB official hits out at Pilatus Bank's 'scorched earth-earth litigation'