A financial services firm intent on pursuing its breach of rights claims against the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit before the European courts is threatening to sue the unit for “millions of euros” in damages.
The warning was issued by means of a judicial protest filed by XNT Limited which earlier this week was the subject of a landmark ruling by Malta’s top court.
The Constitutional Court declared that although the FIAU was not an independent and impartial court or tribunal, the administrative fines it issued did not breach the right to a fair hearing provided that those fined had “access to full review” before a court of law.
That decision overturned a previous ruling whereby the first court had upheld XNT’s claims that the €244,679 administrative fine imposed by the FIAU against the firm breached its fundamental right to a fair hearing.
That court had revoked the fine and ordered that the case against XNT was to continue only after the State enacted legislation to set up an autonomous and independent entity to hear and decide the matter with all the safeguards to a fair hearing.
But all that was overturned by the Constitutional Court upon appeals by the FIAU and the State Advocate as respondents in the suit.
Following that final ruling, lawyers representing the firm told Times of Malta they intended to contest the “retrograde” decision at the European Court of Human Rights.
In the latest twist to the legal dispute, XNT Limited has taken the FIAU to task over its immediate response to the judgment, namely that of putting back in the public domain information that was causing “irremediable prejudice” to the firm.
The issue concerned certain information featuring the name of the firm, the date when it was slapped with the fine as well as the relative articles of law and regulations breached by the firm.
That same information had been published in 2022, a day before XNT Limited filed proceedings before the constitutional courts to contest that legislative framework permitting the FIAU to issue such administrative fines which the firm claimed ran counter to its fundamental rights.
Other firms also filed similar cases in court.
While proceedings were pending before the First Hall, Civil Court in its constitutional jurisdiction, XNT Ltd requested an interim measure, requesting that the information published by the FIAU be pulled down pending the final outcome.
Following the top court’s decision, the FIAU “rather surprisingly” immediately published once again the information related to it, argued XNT, accusing the unit of throwing “caution and sensitivity” to the wind.
The firm is protesting that such behaviour was causing it “great damage” possibly running into millions of euros and placed its commercial operations at risk.
XNT Limited is now calling on the FIAU to withdraw the published material with immediate effect, warning that it would be held responsible for damages and reserving any action to that effect should its claims be upheld by the ECHR.
Lawyers Jose’ Herrera, David Camilleri and Martina Herrera signed the judicial protest.