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MW 26 April 2017

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3 maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 26 APRIL 2017 News Pilatus CEO defends bank's 'robust compliance system' YANNICK PACE THE CEO of Pilatus Bank, Ham- idreza Ghanbari, has said that the events that took place on Thurs- day, hours before Prime Minis- ter Joseph Muscat ordered the Egrant magisterial inquiry, could have been handled much better. The inquiry was ordered by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat late on Thursday night after the bank's chairman Seyed Ali Sadr Hasheminejad was filmed leaving the bank carrying two suitcases, together with the bank's risk manager Antoinella Gauci. The footage fuelled speculation that crucial documents may have been removed from the bank be- fore the arrival of the police. "I spoke with the Chairman and Mr Seyed believes the situation could have been handled much better," said Ghanbari. "In order to clarify, we have re- leased a nine-hour footage of our CCTV that clearly shows what happened inside the bank while the chairman was in the bank with the luggage. So we hope that will clarify things." Ghanbari was speaking as he emerged from court, after anoth- er long day in court with inquir- ing magistrate Aaron Bugeja. The CEO spent roughly two hours with the magistrate in the morning before the inquiry broke off for a break. Later in the af- ternoon Bugeja heard testimony from Antoinella Gauci's, the bank's risk manager, and COO Louis Felipe Rivera – both were with the magistrate for roughly an hour. "We adhere to the highest regu- latory and corporate governance standards, and we are fully en- gaged in complying with the laws and regulations both internation- ally and at the local level," he said, adding that the bank was cooper- ating fully with the inquiry and that the it looked forward to the result. "We believe it will show we have done absolutely nothing wrong and that it will ensure the bank's reputation is intact," he con- tinued, stressing that the bank would never do anything to put its clients "at risk". "Everything has been given to the authorities and we remain open to any questions and any enquiries to make sure that the whole issue is resolved," he said. Asked to comment on allega- tions of money laundering and about reports of an FIAU inves- tigation into the bank's practices, Ghanbari said that the bank had a "very robust compliance and control system" and that this was reflected in its "audited reports". "What we implement in terms of ongoing monitoring, in terms of seeing the transactions, is something unique that retail banks can't apply. Since we are a private bank we have the abil- ity to see every single transac- tion and apply monitoring to that which is completely unique in Mallta," he argued. On investigations into the bank's dealings by local authori- ties, Ghanbari said that as the CEO of a "regulated credit in- stitution", he was legally con- strained from commenting. "We cannot confirm any in- spection by any regulatory bod- ies," he said. "For a comment about inspections I urge you to go to the regulatory bodies." Pilatus Bank CEO Hamidreza Ghanbari Police release body of migrant 65 days after his suicide JURGEN BALZAN THE body of the Ghanian na- tional who committed suicide after his voluntary repatriation process was halted, was finally released by the police yesterday, 65 days after his death. The police previously justified their refusal to release the body by saying that "the identity of the corpse has not yet been estab- lished." Now, the Ghanian community is set to organise a long overdue funeral for Frederick Ofosu, with the ceremony set to be held over the weekend. Speaking to MaltaToday last month, Ahmed Bugri, director for the Foundation for Shelter and Support for Migrants – who had already identified Ofosu to- gether with a Ghanaian embassy official – said he "cannot under- stand" the reasons why the police were refusing to release the body. He had also said that the Gha- naian High Commission was co- operating with the authorities, even offering to put the police in contact with Ofosu's family and friends in Ghana. Apparently, Ofosu left a re- corded message for friends ex- plaining his despair, saying he was being forced to feel like a criminal. Friends of Ofosu said his mental state had further deteriorated after government announced that it would not be renewing the THPn protection, a status for failed asylum seekers who have not been deported by the government. The delay in releasing the mi- grant's body was seen as a tac- tic to quell the anger which the suicide generated, given that Ofosu's voluntary repatriation was stalled over a technicality relating to unpaid court fines on a separate case. However, soon after Ofosu's death, home af- fairs minister Carmelo Ablea announced a U-turn on the sus- pension of THPn, saying that "ir- respective of whether it's called THPn or something else, those who today enjoy THPn will con- tinue to enjoy the benefits that come with it." Ofosu was found strangled with an electric cable in a Qawra building site on Saturday, 18 Feb- ruary and left a recorded mes- sage explaining why he killed himself. Abela has shed doubt on the existence of the recording. Sources in the know say that in the recording, Ofosu appar- ently said he was being made to feel like a criminal, when he had done nothing wrong. In a press conference given three days after the suicide, Ab- ela said the Ghanaian had been refused THPn status three times, and that in September 2016 he had applied for assisted volun- tary return: a programme that grants returning migrants a fi- nancial support package. But the process had to be halt- ed, due to pending fines he had yet to pay on a 2016 court case when Ofosu was accused of dam- aging his rented apartment in St Paul's Bay. In the proceedings however, Ofosu said that his at- tempts to go back to Ghana were being hampered by excessive bureaucracy and told the court that he intentionally smashed the furniture of his rented apart- ment in a desperate cry for atten- tion to his plight. He was handed a suspended one-year prison sentence and or- dered to pay an €800 fine. He was also ordered to pay the landlord €2,115. Ofosu came to Malta to f lee ex- treme poverty and worked for a number of years, but after he lost his job he was faced with a num- ber of demands from the authori- ties, including documentation he could not provide. A funeral for Frederick Ofosu, is set to be held over the weekend

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