Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/975483
Newspaper post maltatoday today today SUNDAY • 29 APRIL 2018 • ISSUE 964 • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY YOUR FIRST READ AND CLICK OF THE DAY WWW.MALTATODAY.COM.MT Andrew Alamango Irene Schembri on why patients' rights have to be spelt out to them PAGE 12 €1.95 'My son's birth pushed me to extremes' MATTHEW VELLA A stark warning on Pilatus Bank and its business model of "secre- cy" for politically exposed persons (PEPs) was spelt out clearly by the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit as early as May 2016. It came in a hard-hitting let- ter from former FIAU director Manfred Galdes, which copy was provided to the Malta Financial Services Authority's director of enforcement, Anton Bartolo who is also the FIAU's deputy chair- man. However, it appears that it was only in February 2018 when a money laundering probe at Pilatus was kicked off by the MFSA. Yet only this week Bartolo fend- ed off accusations from MEPs over inaction on Pilatus Bank, and said that the MFSA could not act on anything but firm evidence. "We can't simply work on allega- tions, on what's written by news- papers, on intelligence we cannot use… we need firm evidence," Bartolo told MEPs at a special committee hearing on financial crimes, on Thursday. But in late May 2016, both he and the MFSA's head of bank- ing supervision, Karol Gabaretta, knew that the FIAU's compliance visit had revealed "serious short- comings" that placed Pilatus "in breach of several provisions" of Malta's money laundering rules, and which exposed the bank and "the jurisdiction as a whole to a high level of risk". These were the serious observa- tions pointed out by Galdes after the compliance visit that revealed "serious deficiencies" due to Pila- tus's dependence on a small clien- tele of mainly A z e r b a i j a n i PEPs. INVESTIGATORS in the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia have privately named Italy and the Netherlands as two EU member states where cooperation was required in a bid to explore organ- ised crime links to Malta. The Malta police yesterday stated that a letter by Europol director Rob Wain- wright to MEP Ana Gomes pointing out "room for improvement" in the murder investigation, did not refer to Malta but to "cooperation with other countries". MaltaToday has established that the reference is to an investigation of organ- ised crime links between the suspects in the Caruana Galizia assassination, in Italy and the Netherlands. Wainwright's letter to Gomes de- scribed the investigation as "highly complex" and that "there is some room for improvement in this cooperation and we are actively seeking to address this." The Malta police said that after seek- ing clarification on the letter, it had re- sulted that the reference was to other countries and not to Malta specifically. Wainwright's comments were left open to interpretation after he said: "New concerns have arisen which are now the subject of further, high-priority investigation by Europol." The contents of the letter, sent to Ana Gomes, were divulged by The Daphne Project on Friday evening. MaltaToday had independently seen the letter. Europol officers are involved in the murder investigation and have been providing continuous support to Malta in the Caruana Galizia case since 26 October. Maltese police have also been accompanied by Europol officials dur- ing searches carried out at the houses of the accused. PAGE 4 IVF and embryo freezing Exploring the genesis of the IVF debate in Maltese politics and how Labour took the 'moral minority' PAGES 10-11 Police probe Italy, Dutch crime links to DCG murder suspects FIAU's warning on Pilatus Bank in 2016 was copied to deputy chairman and MFSA compliance boss and spelt out breaches of money laundering rules which "exposed Malta jurisdiction to high level of risk" • But serious probe was only launched on the eve of FBI arrests Alert of risk Pilatus posed to Malta came in May 2016 Inside the time machine of Maltese sounds and storytelling that will serve as a national memorial PAGES 14-15 MFSA enforcement director and FIAU deputy chairman Anton Bartolo (right) told MEPs the MFSA could not act on 'newspaper reports', but in May 2016 the FIAU compliance report on Pilatus sent to him was nothing but a red flag