Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/958047
FORMER Financial Intel- ligence Analysis Unit of- ficial Jonathan Ferris (pictured) has not qualified for official whistleblower pro- tection because he had "failed to act in line with the dis- positions of Protection of the Whistleblower Act", the External Whistle- blower Unit officer Philip Massa has claimed. MATTHEW VELLA UNITED States investiga- tors probing the activities of Pilatus Bank's chairman Ali Sadr Hasheminejad were in Malta to speak to officials at the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit in late 2017, this newspaper has learnt. The investigators were preparing to finalise the set of charges that ear- lier this week saw the arrest of Hashemine- jad at Dulles airport, Virginia on vari- ous counts of fraud, breach of US sanc- tions and even money laundering. Hashem- inejad was a US resi- dent with property in Washington DC. MaltaToday's source said the American investiga- tors had consulted with the FIAU in late 2017 as part of their investigations. The FIAU had already conducted compliance vis- its at Pilatus Bank, the bank owned by Hasheminejad through the holding com- pany Alpene, which is reg- istered in Hong Kong. The compliance vis- its carried out in 2016 prompted a letter from the FIAU's then director Man- fred Galdes to the Commissioner of Police Michael Cassar, request- ing an investiga- tion of the bank's oper- ations. But the police c o m m i s - sioner re- signed two weeks after r e c e i v i n g the letter in April, and no i n - vestigation took place. Hasheminejad's bank ca- tered to high net worth in- dividuals, with exploratory talks to set up the bank in Malta starting in 2012. The US charges brought against him, for skirting US sanc- tions against using dollar payments for Iranian ben- eficiaries, relate to activi- ties that predate the set-up of the bank, which was li- censed in Malta in 2014. But the modus operandi detailed in the charges brought against him by the New York south district Attorney General, open a window into the personal- ised services Pilatus offered to clients and politically- exposed persons who may have encountered prob- lems justifying the origin and movements of their wealth. Typical clients in- cluded the son of Angolan dictator Jose dos Santos, as well as Azerbaijani million- aire Manuchehr Khangah, known to be close to the all-powerful Azeri minister Kemaleddin Heydarov. Newspaper post maltatoday today today SUNDAY • 25 MARCH 2018 • ISSUE 959 • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY YOUR FIRST READ AND CLICK OF THE DAY WWW.MALTATODAY.COM.MT LIVING CHEEK BY JOWL Valletta's underground vaults are opened to the public today PAGES 12-13 €1.95 US investigators visited FIAU offices over Pilatus probe YANNICK PACE ALEXANDROS Papastergio- poulous, the lawyer represent- ing Maria Efimova, has dis- missed claims that the former Pilatus Bank employee intends to apply for political asylum in Greece. The Russian national, who is the subject of at least two European arrest warrants, surrendered to the police in Greece last Monday. The war- rants were issued by the Mal- tese courts after she repeat- edly failed to turn up in court in Malta. On Thursday, a group of 36 MEPs sent an open letter to the Greek government asking it to grant Efimova and her family asylum, and to ensure they are not returned to Malta. Last year, the former bank employee was named as one of the main sources be- hind claims made by the late Daphne Caruana Galizia that Michelle Muscat, wife of the Prime Minister, owns the Panamanian company Egrant. Caruana Galizia claimed that through Egrant, Michelle Muscat had received $1 mil- lion from a company owned by Leyla Aliyeva, daughter of Ilham Aliyev, the President of Azerbaijan. Efimova is also the subject of at least two ongoing crimi- nal cases in Malta, having been accused of defrauding Pilatus Bank in one case, and of making false accusations against Superintendent Denis Theuma and inspectors Jona- than Ferris and Lara Butters in another – all events that pre- dated the Egrant allegations. "It doesn't seem that there will be grounds for political asylum, especially since Malta is an EU member state," Pa- pastergiopoulous told Malta- Today. The possibility of Efimova being granted political asylum stemmed mainly from media reports, he added. Papastergiopoulous ex- plained that challenging the grounds of the European ar- rest warrant was issued on would be more realistic. "At the moment we are awaiting the arrival of all the documents and material on the case from Malta because at this stage all we have is the notification from Europol," he said, adding that once the case file was in hand, the accusa- tions against Efimova would be analysed from a Greek law perspective. Efimova lawyer suggests no grounds for political asylum PAGE 5 Challenging arrest warrant in court 'more realistic' option, lawyer says Why not buy Pantelleria? University academic's solution to Malta's overcrowding problem PAGES 10-11 Don't forget Clocks move forward one hour as summertime begins Playing hide- and-seek with the Americans PGS 2-3 Going underground Former FIAU employee refused whistleblower status PAGE 4 Pantelleria? University academic's solution to Malta's overcrowding problem PAGES 10-11