Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1478174
NEWS 5 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 7 SEPTEMBER 2022 Call for Applications: The Broadcasting Authority is seeking to fill the post of Transmission Site Custodian 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, Tuesday 20 th September 2022 Late applications will not be considered. Jobs Plus Permit 475/2022 The Broadcasting Authority is a constitutional entity which regulates, licenses 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 Repubblika publishes certified reproduction of Pilatus Inquiry conclusions THE 41-year-old man from Ta' Xbiex who was found lying on the ground near a burning car in Valletta on Saturday, has died. The accident occurred at about 9:15am on the coastline of Triq il-Lanċa, in the area of Marsamx- ett. Police said the fire engulfed the driver's Vauxhall Insignia car. Medical assistance was immediately sought and the man was taken to Mater Dei Hospital, where he was certified to be suffering from serious inju- ries. On the scene of the incident were Civil Protec- tion members, and the Explosive Ordinance Dis- posal of the Armed Forces of Malta. An inquiry is being led by Magistrate Yana Mi- callef Stafrace, with police believing the fire did not develop accidentally. Man found near burning car in Valletta dies MATTHEW AGIUS REPUBBLIKA'S Robert Aquili- na has published what he claims are the conclusions of the report on the magisterial inquiry into Pilatus Bank. The documents, written and certified by Aquilina himself, purport to be a copy of the re- port's conclusions and were pre- sented as proof that no action had been taken against the ma- jority of the people whose prose- cution had been ordered by that inquiry. Addressing an anti-corruption rally outside the court building on Tuesday evening, Aquilina explained that he resorted to reproducing the conclusions in his own handwriting because publishing images of the docu- ments themselves would reveal his source and jeopardise the source's safety. The first of the documents states that American finan- cial consultancy firm Duff and Phelps, which had been engaged as an independent expert as part of the magisterial inquiry into Pilatus Bank, had recommended the court seek further informa- tion from the US authorities or US correspondent banks so as to confirm whether the alleged $1.017million Egrant transac- tion had in fact taken place, also recommending that interviews be held with bank whistleblow- er Maria Efimova and another Pilatus employee named Dina Stankovic. It then skips to the conclusions of the inquiry as carried out by Magistrate Ian Farrugia. According to the documents published by Aquilina, the con- clusions read: "Having made a careful assess- ment of all the acts in this In- quiry, the inquiring magistrate is of the opinion that he should make his own - and is effective- ly doing so through this proces verbal [inquiry report] - the re- port by experts Duff and Phelps exhibited as 'Document NP-4 Final Report Pilatus.'" "Consequently directs the competent Maltese authorities - the Commissioner of Police and the Attorney General - to take action according to law on the strength of this final report, and in the context of document NP6, initiate criminal proceed- ings against, inter alia: • Pilatus Bank Ltd and/or • Pilatus Bank plc and/or • Pilatus Bank • Claude Anne Sant Fournier • Luis Felipe Riviera • Mehmet Tasli • Sayed Ali Sadr Hashemine- jad • Antoniella Jane Gauci • Hamidreza Ghanbari "This conclusion is being made without impinging on the Com- missioner of Police's and/or the Attorney General's right to proceed against others on the strength of the findings of this inquiry. Also, the rights and/or obligations of the Commissioner of Police and the Attorney Gen- eral to continue with the oppor- tune investigations. "Having made these findings, the inquiring magistrate directs this proces verbal, attaching to it the report by Inspectors Matthew Vella, Keith Vella and Claire Borg, as well as all the other acts of this inquiry be sent to the Attorney General in the timeframe established by law." The police charged Pilatus Bank and Claude Anne Sant Fournier with money launder- ing in September last year and the case is ongoing. However, no charges have yet been filed against others, including bank owner Sayed Ali Sadr Hashem- inejad. During the meeting, Aquilina delivered a speech reiterating his criticism of the authorities' inaction with regards to imple- menting the inquiring magis- trate's order to prosecute and repeating further criticism di- rected at Magistrate Nadine Lia, who refused Repubblika's request that she recuse herself from presiding a case in which the NGO is seeking a court or- der compelling the Commis- sioner of Police to take action against the individuals singled out by the inquiry. Lia is related by marriage to lawyer Pawlu Lia, the lawyer of former prime min- ister Joseph Muscat. "This is the evidence. These are the documents which I saw with my own eyes, which as a Nota- ry, I prepared an authenticated copy of and exhibited in court last Thursday… I am doing this because this is what the people deserve: the truth," Aquilina said. The Pilatus Bank inquiry is dis- tinct from the Egrant inquiry, which had been requested by then prime minister Joseph Muscat in 2017 following alle- gations that his wife owned the Panama company Egrant with an account at the now shuttered bank. The Egrant inquiry had found no link between the Muscats and Egrant. Robert Aquilina