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MT 5 June 2016

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maltatoday, SUNDAY, 5 JUNE 2016 12 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 SWEDISH savers can choose to allocate a portion of their national retirement pen- sion, equivalent to 2.5% of their annual sal- ary, to any of the private pensions regulated by the pensions authority. Falcon Funds is one of them. In the summer of 2013, the transfers to Optimus fund began. "2,000 people in one single day suddenly leaving the beach, de- cided to sell our particular fund – one that had moreover done exceptionally well," In- siderfonda CEO Erik Linden remarked on Swedish TV's 'Cold Facts'. Within weeks, over €216 million in sav- ings were transferred to Optimus. The Swedish pensions agency forwarded the matter to the police for investigation, but today says it cannot identify – beyond reasonable doubt – whether Emil Ingmans- son was responsible for this 'fraudulent' transfer. The agency only stopped any new invest- ments being placed in Falcon Funds in Feb- ruary 2016, but since October 2015 it has been asking the Malta Financial Services Authority to investigate Falcon Funds. Tonio Fenech contests the allegations. He told MaltaToday that Falcon Funds only used Konsumentkraft during July-Septem- ber 2015, and then severed its contract with them. "They were sub-contracted by our distributors in Sweden, which then severed the contract with them because of the mis- selling allegations." Fenech also says that Ingmanson has been the subject of unfair press in Sweden, and that he is submitting himself to due dili- gence procedures by the MFSA in order to obtain a licence for his new venture, Falcon Asset Management. "The Swedish pensions agency simply has an agenda against us because the fund is be- ing run in Malta. They can't stomach this. I met them myself and asked them why they had not lifted our suspension when we had severed our relationship with Konsument- kraft. They lifted the suspension of four oth- ers funds, but not ours," Fenech protested. The Swedish pensions agency is claiming it cannot assess the true value of some of Falcon Funds' holdings. But Fenech says the MFSA has already al- ready responded to the agency, saying that the regulator found that the securities Solid Venture P2P, WSV Mittelstand, and Board- walk Real Estate, were eligible for invest- ment. Part of the suspicion concerning these se- curities are that they bear similar names to Ingmanson's Maltese company Solid Ven- ture Capital, and an associated company Boardwalk Limited in the Isle of Man. But since Falcon Funds is registered by the MFSA, it can remain in Sweden's premium pension system. Fenech says he has filed a complaint with the Swedish ombudsman against the pensions agency. "The MFSA has already said there are no problems. The agency says it cannot assess the value of our investments but this is un- true. It is trying to scare off people because Falcon Funds is based in Malta." Fenech also says he told the Swedish pen- sions agency that it was unacceptable to al- low unlicensed call centres like Konsument- kraft to sell pension funds. He has denied any link between Falcon Funds and Konsumentkraft, which was sub- contracted by another distributor in Swe- den with whom Falcon Funds works. "[Konsumentkraft] is a marketing company which, I believe, seeks to transfer a good deal of savings to one par- ticular fund so that it can solicit a manage- ment fee for its ser- vices, against the threat that it would tell the clients to transfer the money back to another fund. I told the agency to take legal action against Konsument- kraft. "On our part, Falcon Funds' clients have the power to transfer back any of their savings to any other private fund." How the fraud took place The Swedish news programme 'Cold Facts' spoke to former employees of Konsu- mentkraft in Alicante, who would market Op- timus or Falcon Funds to unknowing Swedish pension savers. One former worker, Sara Oloffson, said she would call pension sav- ers, identiyfing herself as calling from "Kon- sumentfrakt, under Financial Authority supervision regarding your premium pen- sion." Another former worker, Cedrik, said the clients were led to believe they could choose from a variety of funds. "We only present Falcon Funds as a 'choice' since it was the only fund that paid us for what we did. Even if they'd wanted another fund it wasn't go- ing to happen. We couldn't do it, we just had the one fund." The Konsumentkraft advisors would ask clients for their electronic IDs, to log onto the system using their national identity numbers – which they already had in their possession – and see what pensions they held. "I could just empty the whole lot – trans- fer it all to Falcon," Sara said. "Just by clicking, doing it as fast as pos- sible after logging in. Then hanging up," Cedrik said. Sara said that towards the autumn of News Fenech: Falcon Funds severed relationship with rogue sellers "The Swedish pensions agency simply has an agenda against us because the fund is being run in Malta. They can't stomach this." Tonio Fenech Emil Amir Ingmanson is a Swedish businessman who appears as an 'initiator' of Falcon Funds sicav, although he does not have a position in the pension fund. But he has been indicated as the UBO of Falcon Asset Management. Ingmanson has also been linked to Solid Venture Capital, a firm set up in 2012 in Malta. Konsumentkraft A call-centre in Alicante, Spain, that employed young Swedish workers to call up pension savers back home and aggressively market one specific fund, Optimus High Yield and later upon its merger, Falcon Funds. According to former employees interviewed by Swedish TV4's 'Cold Facts', they executed a mass transfer of savings in weeks in the summer of 2013 and this continued right up until October 2015. Premium pension system In Sweden savers can allocate 2.5% of their annual salaries into a premium pension fund, which is usually a private fund, in addition to the national pension. Falcon Funds SICAV is an open-ended collective investment scheme – the acronym is French for société d'investissement à capital variable – and is registered in Malta. Its directors are Nationalist MP Tonio Fenech, Joseph Xuereb and Ian Zammit. The fund is managed by Temple Asset Management, which is owned by CAM (BVI) registered in Tortola, and Anthony Farrell. Falcon Asset Management and Falcon Asset Holdings These companies both have as directors Tonio Depasquale, the former Bank of Valletta chief executive, and Guido Mizzi. Before February 2016, Emil Amir Ingmanson had one share in these companies and gave power of attorney to Maltese representatives. Tonio Fenech (right) and Anthony Farell of Temple Asset Management interviewed by Swedish journalists for the TV programme 'Cold Facts' "We only present Falcon Funds as a 'choice' since it was the only fund that paid us for what we did. Even if they'd wanted another fund it wasn't going to happen. We couldn't do it, we just had the one fund" Former rogue seller

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