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Malta: EU anti-money laundering rules ‘about to be adopted’

The government has given its assurance that it will soon implement the EU’s new anti-money laundering rules, as Malta faces infringement procedures later this month if it fails to do so. The fifth anti-money laundering directive, the latest set of rules designed to cut down on financial crime in Europe,… Read More

Foreign banks wary of opening accounts for ‘risky’ Maltese

A number of international banks were declining to do business with Maltese nationals as they viewed the jurisdiction to be too risky, sources within Malta’s financial institutions warned. Sources from the financial sector and banking regulators confirmed they had received reports from Maltese nationals and Malta-based businesses after overseas banks… Read More

Venezuela ‘dirty money’ firm gets MFSA lifeline after tribunal decision

A Maltese wealth management firm linked to an alleged conspiracy to embezzle over a billion dollars in Venezuelan oil money has been given a year to fix its anti-money laundering controls. The financial regulator was forced to revisit its decision to effectively suspend Portmann Capital’s operations indefinitely after the firm… Read More

3rd February 2020

BOV cyber heist: more arrests as Belfast account flagged

Another three people have been arrested in connection with last year’s €13 million Bank of Valletta cyber heist, after €950,000 was funneled through an account in Northern Ireland. Friday’s announcement by the UK’s National Crime Agency follows the arrest of three other men in Belfast and London earlier this week. Read More

30th January 2020

‘I will prove who owns Egrant’: Malta whistleblower

Whistleblower Maria Efimova plans to pay an “independent” company to verify documents she says will name the real owner of secret offshore company Egrant Inc. The former Pilatus Bank employee has so far raised over €9,650 of the €15,000 target amount, through a fundraising campaign she started six days… Read More

28th January 2020

‘Probe claims on all major contracts,’ says Maltese business lobby

Malta’s foremost business lobby is “greatly concerned” with the country’s latest classification in the annual corruption perception index and has called on the new prime minister to address “allegations” concerning major contracts awarded by the government over the past seven years. Many major projects spearheaded by the Labour government, including… Read More

27th January 2020

‘Robber baron’ with famous friends set to lose her £40m property empire

Her website once described her as a “poet, mezzo-soprano, designer and exotic Uzbekistan beauty”. Or, as more critical voices have put it, a “robber baron” who purloined hundreds of millions of pounds in bribes. Now another facet of Gulnara Karimova has come to light: former neighbour of Sir Bruce Forsyth. Read More

23rd January 2020

How 237 Maltese taxpayers got off the Panama Papers hook

A total of 237 Maltese taxpayers had featured in the Panama Papers leak, yet the police never carried out a comprehensive probe into all those individuals and companies named. One senior police source said the bulk of the investigations were carried out by the Inland Revenue Department in an administrative… Read More

23rd January 2020

Swedish Gambling Authority calls for higher anti-money laundering fines

The Swedish Gambling Authority (SGA) has taken a stance against money laundering and petitioned the Ministry of Finance to increase the maximum penalty of the gambling operators in violation of the Money Laundering Act. The Authority argued that, given the turnover of the larger gambling operators licensed in Sweden,… Read More

21st January 2020

‘Suspicious’ that Malta’s FIAU not given resources when investigating PEPs – former director

If the police did nothing on reports compiled and sent by the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit, what was the point of having these reports, former FIAU director Manfred Galdes said. He said it was suspicious that the FIAU lacked resources – and were not given any – at the time… Read More

20th January 2020

Western Advisers Helped An Autocrat’s Daughter Amass And Shield A Fortune

Pausing at the entrance to a star-studded bash at the Cannes Film Festival, ’90s icon Sharon Stone flashed her one-of-a-kind cuff bracelet. It was a wraparound hippo with rubies for eyes, sapphire nostrils and white diamond teeth. Its body was covered in brown, gray and white diamonds. The dazzling ornament… Read More

20th January 2020

Maltese gaming firm averts sanctions after record fine

A company that illegally processed millions of euros worth of payments for an online gambling operation will not face any criminal charges after reaching a €2.34 million settlement with the Malta Gaming Authority. An industry source familiar with the settlement said the authorities had decided to close off the case… Read More

17th January 2020

Authorities to look into reports mafia used Malta banks in EU funds scam

The authorities will be looking into reports that banks in Malta were used by the Italian mafia in a massive operation in Sicily that defrauded the European Union of millions of euros in funds for farmers, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry said. The public prosecutor in Messina said on… Read More

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