Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/989894
3 NEWS maltatoday | SUNDAY • 3 JUNE 2018 TIA RELJIC AS part of his bail conditions, Pilatus Bank owner Ali Sadr Hasheminejad will be subject to electronic monitoring and a nightly curfew of 7pm. He will have to surrender all passports, or any other travel documents, and will not be able to obtain new ones. Hashemine- jad will need to waive any right to contest extradition from any foreign country. The banker was arrested in March and charged with breach- ing sanctions on Iran, bank fraud, and money laundering. He was granted bail by a New York Court last week. Indeed, his travel will be re- stricted to the southern and eastern districts of New York, the eastern district of Virginia, the district of Maryland, and the district of Columbia. Hasheminejad will not be able to make any claim on funds held in his two frozen Cyprus-based bank accounts. In fact, his defence counsel would not be able to direct any of his funds to anyone, and if Hasheminejad would flee, any funds not used for expenses would be deemed posted for bail. Hasheminejad's lawyers had presented a bail package of conditions and bonds that total some $34 million, which include almost 40 bonds from family, friends and colleagues worth al- most $14 million. If he were to break his bail con- ditions, Hasheminejad would be compromising eleven separate bonds of impressive value. The bonds include what his lawyers referred to as "meaning- ful pledges" from close friends and family, arguing that by fail- ing to appear in court, Hashem- inejad would cause significant damage to himself and to those close to him. The bail package was opposed by the US government's district attorney Geoffrey Bearman, who accused him of having set up Pi- latus bank in 2013 with "crimi- nal proceeds" from the US dollar payments to Iranian beneficiar- ies. Bearman also said that Hasheminejad's wealth, which includes a $12.9 million equity in Pilatus, was ultimately for- feitable "because it constitutes criminal proceeds directly linked to the Venezuela project". Hasheminejad's $1.5 million Washington D.C. apartment, as well as his $5.7 million Califor- nia pistachio farms, were also forfeitable, Bearman said, as he claimed they were purchased with criminal proceeds. Hasheminejad was arrested in Virginia as he returned to his Washington home, charged with bank fraud and breaching US sanctions against Iran. The banker is accused of hav- ing funnelled some $115 million through the United States on behalf of Iranian entities, includ- ing his family's company Stratus, from a Venezuelan construction project to companies in Switzer- land and Turkey. The Maltese financial regulator said it is carrying out an exten- sive review of the bank, which is still ongoing. The bank is already the subject of at least two magisterial inquir- ies; one triggered by an allega- tion by the late journalist Daph- ne Caruana Galizia that the bank processed a $1 million payment on behalf of the Azerbaijani rul- ing family, to the wife of Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, and the other by a complaint filed by the former PN leader Simon Busut- til on money paid to Muscat's chief of staff, Keith Schembri. tickets f rom teatrumalta.org.mt or 2122 0255 MON 18 JUNE 2018 8PM 10-11PM ENGLAND VS TUNISIA GAME SUN 17 JUNE 2018 8PM BRAZIL VS SWITZERLAND GAME 10-11PM FRI 15 JUNE 2018 8PM PORTUGAL VS SPAIN GAME 10-11PM SUN 24 JUNE 2018 8PM 10-11PM POLAND VS COLOMBIA GAME SAT 23 JUNE 2018 8PM GERMANY VS SWEDEN GAME 10-11PM THU 21 JUNE 2018 8PM ARGENTINA VS CROATIA GAME 10-11PM A FREE PINT OF BEER OR SOFT DRINK WITH EVERY TICKET PURCHASE GENERAL ADMISSION €20 CONCESSIONS €15 TROPHIES LOUNGE, NATIONAL STADIUM, TA' QALI 15, 17, 18, 21, 23, 24 JUNE 2018 10PM (FOLLOWING WORLD CUP SCREENINGS) Early bedtime for Pilatus Bank owner under bail conditions Hasheminejad was arrested in Virginia as he returned to his Washington home, charged with bank fraud and breaching US sanctions against Iran