Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/908437
maltatoday WEDNESDAY 29 NOVEMBER 2017 News 2 MARIA PACE MANY pets entering animal sanctuaries turn up without microchips, despite a 2011 law that stipulated that all dogs have to be microchipped, with owners risking a €300 fine, MaltaToday has learned. Many sanctuaries believe that while animal abuse is decreasing, animal abandon- ment is still very high, with families often abandoning their household pets because they are no longer wanted or have no space. With around 300,000 stray animals in Malta, these sanc- tuaries work hard to properly neuter, feed, care, and find a new home for these unwanted pets. Although the Animal Welfare Office spends thou- sands of euros each year on welfare and housing, there are various sanctuaries further dedicating their time to caring for such pets. The Association of Aban- doned Animals homes up to 80 dogs, and is often full. The sanctuary, sponsored by dona- tions, aims to care for aban- doned dogs, whether found on the street or given up by their family. Although puppies and small dogs are adopted at a fast rate, older and bigger dogs are not adopted as often and re- main in the sanctuary. Also sponsored by donations and charity shops, MSPCA currently has 40 animals in its care, and has homed around 100 dogs this year. "Our aim is that the animals are safe, and are homed as soon as pos- sible," MSPCA President Bar- bara Cassar Torreggiani said. Although it seems that more dogs are being homed for life, Cassar Torreggiani noted that most dogs coming in are from houses rather than from the streets. Manager at Happy Paws said that the recent law of micro- chipping animals has decreased the number of animals in the street. "You don't see a lot of stray dogs nowadays. Because of the microchip system, it is now vary rare to see stray dogs." However, various sanctuaries said that although most dogs entering their shelters seem to be abandoned pets, they are of- ten not microchipped. AAA said that when a dog comes into their care, they first check for a microchip. "Al- though most are abandoned, not lost, 99% of the time, the dogs that come in aren't micro- chipped," manager Rosalind Agius said. "Even though microchipping dogs is a law, it is unfortunately not enforced well." Agius be- lieves that the court is fail- ing the animals, as there is no good court system for animal abuse. "A dog being abused has to go through a court proce- dure which might take years," she said. Because of this, it is often useless to report abuse. Barbara Cassar Torreggiani from the MSPCA agreed with this, saying that most animals coming into care are not mi- crochipped. "Unfortunately, the law is there but it is not en- forced," she said. Animal Guardians Malta, who currently have 105 res- cued cats and kittens in their sanctuary, and 2 or 3 being adopted a month, believe that while dogs aren't being mi- crochipped, cats should also be microchipped. "More en- forcement has to be made on microchipping one's pet dog, and a tag with the owner's con- tact number is a must." Karen Koleiro said. "We believe that cats should also be micro- chipped." Neutering is also very impor- tant to decrease the stray ani- mal population. Happy Paws Animal Clinic is dedicated to reducing the number of stray animals in Malta. Having neu- tered a total of 2000 animals each year, the clinic has up to 21 operations per day, with 80% of operations being on stray animals. Manager Joanna Grezlikowska said that after a successful neutering campaign with Dogs Trust, UK in 2010, the number of stray dogs in Malta drastically decreased. Because this project was so successful, the organisation can now focus on cats. "2000 cats a year is still not enough," Grezlikowska said, "there is still a large population of stray cats in Malta." With Christmas time loom- ing closer, sanctuaries worry about the number of aban- doned animals in January. Al- though it is a lovely gift to be able to give, "animals need to fit in like any member of the family, otherwise, you might tend to have a hyper or scared animal." Cassar Torreggiani said. "When you adopt an ani- mal, make sure you have the time and the patience." Sanctuaries worry as microchipping laws not being enforced Although puppies and small dogs are adopted at a fast rate, older and bigger dogs are not adopted as often and remain in the sanctuary MATTHEW VELLA THE European Central Bank has yet to answer a letter from Nationalist MEP David Casa, who has called on the supervi- sor to take control of the pri- vate bank Pilatus. A spokesperson for the ECB released no comment on the matter, although any such cor- respondence could be made public by Danièle Nouy, the chair of the ECB supervisory board. Although Pilatus Bank is not supervised by the ECB, Casa has requested that it instructs the Malta Financial Services Authority to withdraw its banking licence over suspicions that it is being used to launder money for Azerbaijani oli- garchs and politically-exposed persons (PEPs). The bank was at the centre of allegations (now being in- vestigated by a mag- istrate) that it processed a $1 million pay- ment from the daugh- ter of A z e r b a i - jani Presi- dent Ilham Aliyev to the wife of Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat. Both Mus- cat and the bank denied the allegation, first published by Daphne Caruana Galizia. While the ECB is responsible to authorise appointments and solvency for BOV, HSBC, and MeDirect Bank, it is the MFSA that is directly responsible for Pilatus, which was granted a licence in 2014. "The MFSA carefully consid- ers and reviews any reports, allegations or approaches from all quarters raising any con- cerns on financial regulatory matters. However, it can only act in accordance with due pro- cess and subject to its duties of confidentiality and in compli- ance with the relevant law. To do otherwise would compro- mise its integrity and inde- pendence," the regulator said in a statement on Monday. It is unclear whether the ECB could step in to take control of the bank on complaint of al- leged money laundering. Back in August 2017, Danièle Nouy had replied to a letter from Green MEP Sven Giegold, saying that monitoring the fi- nancial system for preventing money laundering was "not one of the tasks of the ECB. Com- pliance with anti-money laun- dering legislation is a matter for the relevant national com- petent authorities." Nouy had said that the ECB was fully committed to cooper- ating with national authorities in combating money launder- ing by closely monitoring rel- evant developments and taking action where appropriate. In 2016, the ECB asked the MFSA to take control of Finn- ish-owned bank Nemea, after a whistleblower said the online- only bank processed a €10 mil- lion deposit by an Azerbaijani woman living in Paris. In his letter to the ECB, Ca- sa pointed out that Iranian- born chairman Seyed Ali Sadr Hasheminejad holds a St Kitts & Nevis passport, flagging a 2014 report by the US Depart- ment of Treasury that claimed Iranian nationals were still ob- taining SKN passports despite being suspended from their citizenship-by-investment pro- gramme. Hasheminejad is the son of one of Iran's richest men, banker Seyed Mo- hammad Sadr Hasheminejad. "The bank's clients are p r e d o m i - n a n t l y PEPs from A z e r b a i - jan, includ- ing Presi- dent [Ilham] Aliyev's two children and his minister for emer- gency situations [Kamaled- din Heydarov]. Former EU commissioner John Dalli… Michelle [Muscat], and… Keith Schembri were also re- vealed to be clients of Pilatus by Caruana Galizia's sources," Casa said. Casa sent leaked FIAU re- ports to the ECB, showing that the PM's chief of staff Keith Schembri received a €100,000 payment from Nexia BT part- ner Brian Tonna. The allega- tion, now under investigation by a magistrate, is that Tonna kickbacked revenues from an IIP client to Schembri using his own BVI offshore com- pany. Casa had already request- ed the revocation of Pilatus Bank's licence by the MFSA, in a letter to chairman Joseph Bannister – himself implicat- ed in the Paradise Papers for holding directorships in off- shore companies. In the letter Casa insisted, "As chairman of the MFSA you have been made aware of the results of investigations car- ried out by the FIAU. I refer in particular to those inves- tigations that took place un- der former director Manfred Galdes and before the political capture and emasculation of this institution." ECB yet to reply on Pilatus complaint N a tio n a li st M EP D a v i d Ca s a