Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/825117
2 maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 17 MAY 2017 News Egrant whistleblower testifies MATTHEW AGIUS THE bank at the centre of a po- litical storm insisted in court yesterday that the woman claiming she has documents linking the wife of the Prime Minister to an offshore com- pany, was never a Pilatus Bank employee. Magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech presided an animated sitting yesterday morning in the case filed by the Russian nation- al against the bank, in which she is demanding €6,044.99 in unpaid wages, statutory bonus, leave and notice money. Referred to as AB due to an ongoing magisterial inquiry requested by the Prime Minis- ter into the allegations that his wife owns the Panama offshore company Egrant Inc., the wom- an testified at length. Pilatus Bank also filed a crimi- nal complaint against AB, with police pressing charges in court against her for misappropria- tion of monies during the two months she was in the employ of the bank. AB told the court she signed a service agreement instead of an employment contract because the latter had been contingent on her obtaining residency in Malta. Finco Trust, who were handling payroll, could not en- rol her because she didn't have a residence permit, she said. AB said she was told she had to work and wait for residency, after which she would be paid in full. She said she went to Iden- tity Malta with her contract in January and was told that the process to issue her a residence permit would take eight to 10 weeks. "I went back to the bank and spoke to Mr [Hamidreza] Ghanbari and said it's very dif- ficult to work 10 weeks and not get paid." AB said her role was that of an executive secretary to the chairman, and cited clauses of her contract from memory. "I fulfilled those duties from Janu- ary to 25 February. After 25 February one of my colleagues resigned from front office and I was called to Mr Ghanbari's office and told I was going to be taking over her role imme- diately because I had worked with her in the past. I asked if I would be receiving additional notification of the addition of duties and she said it would be an unofficial arrangement until another employee is found." "I was also onboarding new clients, carrying out KYC [know-your-customer] and so on," AB said. Never paid wages AB said she had checked her Bank of Ireland account and confirmed that no payment had been made. "I have never received wages from the bank. I have never been paid for the job I have done as employment. I was buying stationery, food for the kitchen, paying car fines for the chairman's wife. So the ac- countant of the bank was giving me cash to pay for these expens- es on production of a receipt. I was paid, like petty cash." She would give sealed enve- lopes to bank clients, mostly hotels, she said. The envelopes were never opened in her pres- ence, she added, but "I could feel that it wasn't a document." The court observed that it was odd that a bank would make payments in this manner and asked her to explain what pay- ments she made. "I made pay- ments from petty cash. Not my own money… The envelopes were given to me and it was ob- viously cash inside. I could feel it, not like document. It was shaped like cash." The court asked her: "So the bank gave you cash to deliver to people outside the bank?" asked the court. "Yes," she replied. Her lawyer, Daniel Buttigieg, asked what the bank had told her about the cash payments. "They were not explaining why I have to deliver them, they said go there give envelope to this person." In the two and a half months she worked there she was paid nothing at all, she said. "I was very concerned. I asked constantly. I asked my direct su- periors, Ghanbari and Seyed Ali Sadr Hasheminejad. Ghanbari said 'we cannot pay you unlike the other employees… we can- not give you a cheque' because I don't have account in Malta and I wouldn't be able to cash it. I knew they had BOV accounts. So I went to BOV and asked if I can cash a cheque without resi- dence or bank account in Malta and was give a written answer from customer service saying that I could upon presentation of my passport." AB said she told this to Ghan- bari. "Many times he was rude. He told me to leave his office and not bother him. Then on 29 March, 2016 I was called to the conference room and there was Ghanbari and Luis Felipe Riveira, who handed me an en- velope with a termination letter and a copy of a non-disclosure agreement I had signed before." She said she was then escorted out of the bank. AB confirmed that she had signed a non-disclosure agree- ment but not a final contract. Cross-examination Lawyer Stefano Filletti, ap- pearing for Pilatus Bank, cross- examined, asking what steps she had taken about the wages after her termination. "I waited around a week for a cheque... On 8th May I sent an email to Christian Vella of Finco Trust, asking him to send me my pay- roll for January to March." She said she was sent a document for another woman who shared her first name, and later told that the CEO would contact her directly. She exhibited the cor- respondence in court. Filletti scoffed at the allega- tions that a bank, handling mil- lions of euros, would refuse to pay €6,000. "Did you ever state that you re- ceived cash to pay parking tick- ets? You released a public state- ment that the cash was meant to pay for fines on Mr Ghan- bari's car. You are confirming a cash payment in March and denying it was for salary. Are you confirming that it was for the chairman's vehicle?" Ukrainian aircraft manufacturer to 'explore possibility' of YANNICK PACE PRIME Minister Joseph Mus- cat announced yesterday that Ukrainian aircraft manufac- turer Antonov was actively considering opening up a logis- tics centre in Malta. "This would supplement the already growing maintenance, repair and operations business that includes Lufthansa and SR Technics," Muscat said. "The addition of this type of aircraft will further strengthen Malta's reputation as one of the world leaders in aviation mainte- nance." Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, who personally discussed the possible invest- ment with Antonov's top brass, said that both he and Muscat were surprised at the number of Antonov aircraft servicing North Africa. "It's a very big market. I am convinced that Antonov will follow the wise decision of Luf- thansa," he said. "Together we can make Malta a capital for aircraft logistics." In addition to this, Muscat announced the possibility of opening up a regional grain terminal for the distribution of Ukrainian grain. "In particular, we are looking at investments in the Kordin grain terminal to efficiently distribute Ukrainian grain across North Africa," Muscat said. Poroshenko on his part said that the "unique opportunity for cooperation in agriculture" could also help Ukrainian grain penetrate the European Market.