Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/739032
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 16 OCTOBER 2016 News 3 that Konsumentkraft workers would call pension savers and identify themselves as members of the pensions authority, to encour- age them to switch over to the Fal- con Funds pension fund. Even more suspicious was the fact that a mysterious Swedish entrepreneur, Emil Ingmanson – who also has business interests in Malta – was said to have been connected to these abusive call centres, ostensibly in obtaining a database of other pension fund clients. It later turned out that Fal- con Funds had invested at least €31 million of its pension savers' money, into three sub-funds that the pensions authority believes are connected to Ingmanson's own beneficial interest. Conflict of interest Even worse, the SPA was alarmed over the incestuous rela- tionship between Ingmanson and Falcon Funds. The Falcon SICAV is not owned by Tonio Fenech, but as one of its three directors, he runs the fund, which invests the pension savers' money in blue chip stocks like BMW, Allianz and Michelin. These decisions are taken by the SICAV's investment manager, Temple Asset Management. But as it turns out, Emil Ing- manson was planning to become the investment manager of Fal- con Funds instead of Temple As- set Management, whose Floriana office until recently was hosting 'Falcon Asset Management', a company of which Ingmanson is its ultimate beneficial owner. This only confirmed the SPA's worst fears, when it saw that Fal- con Funds had invested cash in funds like Solid Venture P2P ETI and Boardwalk Real Estate ETI – which happen to bear similar names to companies Emil Ing- manson set up in Malta (Solid Gold Venture) and the Isle of Man (Boardwalk LLP), respectively. In August 2016, after MaltaTo- day's reports, Falcon Asset Man- agement ceased operations when it failed to obtain an MFSA licence to become a UCITS manager. The SPA has accused Falcon Funds and Temple Asset Man- agement of being aware that they invested in instruments for the benefit of Ingmanson, "which constitutes a conflict of interest… [these instruments'] design is pur- posely non-transparent in order to veil any further analysis of the underlying assets and their risks." "The agency concludes that the investment into the ETIs is in breach of the obligation of Falcon Funds to act in the best interest of its shareholders and in breach of its obligation to carry out its as- signment in a prudent and profes- sional manner." Fenech has defended Ingmanson in the past, saying he was the sub- ject of an unfair press in Sweden, and that the funds Falcon invested in are all UCITS-eligible. "The claims made of the links with In- gmanson are to the least specula- tive. He is known to the board as a person of repute, was involved in the setting up of the fund due to his Swedish experience and intro- duced us to Stellum [the distribu- tors of Falcon Funds in Sweden]. He has no involvement in the sell- ing or investments decisions of the fund," Fenech told MaltaToday in June. mvella@mediatoday.com.mt volume of diesel on site for emer- gency purposes. "And even so, diesel is no dan- ger at all, it cannot catch fire, this is not oil or petrol," he said. "We do not have any petrol in the ga- rage, none at all." Residents in the area told Mal- taToday that the bowser was seen on site very frequently, while vans and coaches lined up in front of the garage, waiting to top up their fuel tanks, almost daily. This appears to be happening more frequently now that the school year has started, with ve- hicles topping up their diesel very early in the morning before going to start picking up children on their school transport rounds. Emails to the Regulator for En- ergy and Water Services (REWS), the authority regulating petrol stations, went unanswered by the time we went to print. The SPA is insisting that the value of savings inside Falcon Funds will "in all likelihood" have a lower value than originally invested because of "harmful investments" that inflated the value of the savings