Former Malta Financial Services Authority chairman Joe Bannister is testifying on Monday in a public inquiry into the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.
Prof. Bannister led the MFSA from its inception in 1999 to early 2018, when he retired.
The inquiry has so far heard from members of Ms Caruana Galizia's family, former police commissioners, the head of Malta's security service and the former boss of the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit.
As it happened
Jonathan Ferris to testify Wednesday
4.30pm Former FIAU official (and police inspector) Jonathan Ferris will testify on Wednesday, January 29.
The inquiry will also hear from the director general of the MFSA, who heads its supervisory board, Marianne Camilleri on Monday, February 3.
Today’s session is now concluded. Thank you for joining us during this live blog. We will have a full report of the day’s testimonies available shortly.
'It amazes me how they use the law'
4.24pm There are no further questions for Prof. Bannister, who steps off the witness stand and out of the courtroom.
“It amazes me how they use the law...” one of the public inquiry board members muses out aloud.
Central Bank rule
4.22pm Lawyer Andrew Borg Cardona asks Prof. Bannister to recall a rule that was introduced, requiring new banks to hold shares in existing ones.
It was a Central Bank policy, Prof. Bannister replies, and extended to insurances as well as banks.
Answering a question, he says Nexia BT was not a corporate service provider at the time he was at the MFSA.
A sudden recollection
4.17pm Prof. Bannister has a recollection.
“Now I remember there was a Mario Felice at the MFSA,” he says.
'The MFSA was doing its job'
4.13pm Judge Said Pullicino makes a direct appeal to Prof. Bannister.
“Our task is to determined whether any authority could have done somethign to prevent this assassination. If you have information, please tell us. We cannot be in a worse predicament. Everyone is telling us ‘no, not me’ [le mhux jien].
The implication is that everyone is passing the buck.
Prof. Bannister insists he is giving the inquiry the full picture.
“I can assure you that the MFSA was doing its job”.
His assurances do not seem to impress the inquiry, who tell him “But you’re saying the buck did not stop with you. So what guarantee can you give us?”
Prof. Bannister says that he can assure them that people did their job, “but I don’t know what they discovered.” He again recalls how the MFSA board and supervisory council were kept completely separate by law.
The board asks whether he thinks the law should be revised.
“It needs to be studied. Regulation is constantly evolving,” he replies.
Brexit consultant
4.04pm When questioned, Prof. Bannister says that he was kept on as a consultant on Brexit-related matters after he resigned as MFSA chairman, but that he did the work without payment.
“Are you still an advisor to the Prime Minister now?”
“I don’t know,” he says. “There’s been a change (in government)”.
'The Prime Minister never asked'
4.02pm Judge Said Pullicino alludes to “the day all Malta saw a person take things out of the country”.
The reference is presumably to Pilatus Bank chairman Ali Sadr Hasheminejad, who was seen leaving Pilatus Bank offices with a stuffed briefcase on the night when Daphne Caruana Galizia claimed that Egrant was owned by Michelle Muscat.
“What did the MFSA do?” asks Said Pullicino.
Prof. Bannister says he had faith in the integrity of his staff and that he spoke to KPMG’s Juanita Bencini.
“She later reported that FIAU had sent a letter saying that everything was in order (at Pilatus Bank). I was not told of any deficiencies”.
“Didn’t you ask?”
“No.”
“Did the Prime Minister consult you?”
“Not as often as you think.”
The board presses the matter. “Didn’t he ask about this issue, which brought down his government?”
“He never asked about this matter”.
An understaffed FIAU
3.55pm Prof. Bannister echoes what former FIAU boss Manfred Galdes told the inquiry, that the FIAU had “some financial problems”, was understaffed and paid poorer salaries.
He says he had made a proposal to absorb the FIAU under the MFSA’s wing but that nothing came of it.
Business growth outpaced the authority’s, he says, and that the big difference in salaries meant it was not easy to recruit experts from overseas.
'Schembri never brought business to MFSA'
3.49pm Lawyer Andrew Borg Cardona suggests that MFSA supervisory council withdrew Pilatus Bank’s licence “because of sanctions in the US” and not because of what was being uncovered in Malta.
Madam Justice Abigail Lofaro says that's the impression she got, too.
Prof. Bannister says that to his knowledge, Keith Schembri, Sai Mizzi, Karl Cini and Brian Tonna “never brought business to the MFSA”.
2017 revolt
3.46pm Judge Said Pullicino asks Prof. Bannister to think back to 2017. There was an “uprising” just before the 2017 general election, the judge says. Did he know about that?
“I was told of it. I spoke to the board. What was reported was not correct.”
Nobody resigned as a result, he tells the board.
“What about Mario Felice?”
Prof. Bannister says he doesn’t remember that name.
'I'm sorry, but I don't believe you'
3.41pm Lawyer Andrew Borg Cardona wants to know about Nexia BT and its director Brian Tonna.
“When the Panama Papers were published (in 2016), what did the MFSA do?” he asks.
“Therse were not licenses entities,” Prof. Bannister replies. “You have to monitor but you cannot interfere.”
A member of the inquiry board wants to know if that means that the MFSA did nothing about any of the people Daphne Caruana Galizia wrote about in relation to financial crime.
“I was not privy to anything the supervisory council did,” Prof. Bannister says.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t believe you,” replies judge Michael Mallia. “So you didn’t ask for their report?”
“Even if I did, they wouldn’t give it to me. That’s the law,” he says.
Bannister pressed on Pilatus
3.35pm Judge Said Pullicino presses Prof. Bannister about Pilatus Bank. Did he know about problems there?
Prof. Bannister says that while pre-licensing procedures fell within his ambit, once the application moved forward he was no longer involved.
“I did not attend discussions. KPMG were involved,” he says.
'I got to know of things through the media'
3.50pm Mr Bannister tells the inquiry that he had no hand in Council decisions.
“The impression out there is that it fell in your lap,” Judge Joseph Said Pullicino tells him. “I’m quite perplexed. Who’s going to give us the exact facts? If you cannot supply them, tell us who can”.
Prof. Bannister starts mentioning former top MFSA officials and tells the board that Pilatus Bank’s licence was granted under Andre Camilleri.
Mr Camilleri was the MFSA’s director-general at the time. He was succeeded by Marianne Camilleri in 2014.
"I sometimes got to know of things through the media," Prof. Bannister says.
Joe Bannister testifies
3.25pm Mr Bannister takes the oath and begins his testimony. He runs through his professional history and says he quit the MFSA in 2018 for personal reasons.
“Did you receive any report on Pilatus Bank from the FIAU?” he’s asked.
He says he did not, and explains the legal boundaries between the MFSA chair (the post he held) and its supervisory council.
Michael Cassar done testifying
3.20pm A court usher pops outside, looks around and calls out.
"Mr Bannister", he yells.
It seems Michael Cassar is done testifying. People are being allowed back into the courtroom.
Bannister waits
3.03pm Mr Cassar is still inside the courtroom, around 30 minutes since he first began testifying for a second time. Meanwhile, the day's main witness, Joe Bannister, waits patiently outside.
What Cassar had previously testified
2.52pm Former police commissioner Michael Cassar is testifying behind closed doors. He told the inquiry board he wanted to clarify some points related to his original testimony.
Here's what he said when he first testified on January 9.
Michael Cassar in uniform. Mr Cassar quit the force in April 2016.While you wait...
2.43pm Earlier today, former OPM chief of staff Keith Schembri dropped a libel suit about an article alleging he received €750,000 into an offshore account in 2014. Read all about it.
If you're a British national in Malta and are getting the Brexit jitters, have a read of this.
Fancy a longer read? A photo of a minister grabbing a bite to eat prompts UN Special Rapporteur Joe Cannataci to ask when a politician's right to privacy trumps the public's right to know.
What will Cassar testify?
2.37pm The answer to that question is "we don't know", because it will all happen behind closed doors.
Everyone except the Caruana Galizia family is asked to leave the room while the former police commissioner testifies.
Michael Cassar returns to witness stand
2.36pm Former police commissioner Michael Cassar testified in the inquiry two weeks ago. But he’s back now, again as a witness.
Mr Cassar would like to clarify something, we are told.
People file into hall 20
2.33pm Today's inquiry session should be starting any minute. People are taking a seat inside the courtroom. Daphne Caruana Galizia's parents and two of her sisters are here. Her widower Peter, a lawyer, and Andrew Borg Cardona are appearing on the family's behalf today.
Understanding the inquiry
2.27pm The public inquiry was first set up in September 2019, following concerted pressure to do so by the Caruana Galizia family itself, MEPs and even the Council of Europe.
Following criticism about its original remit - and the three people first nominated to it - the government broadened the inquiry's terms of reference and replaced two of the three members.
Read more about the inquiry's terms of reference or about its three members.
What happened last week
2.20pm There were three separate inquiry hearings last week.
A. Former FIAU chief Manfred Galdes testified on Monday. Dr Galdes said, among other things, that he:
- Gave sensitive information which appeared to implicate Keith Schembri in financial crime directly to police commissioner Michael Cassar;
- Was told that plans to increase FIAU resources were stopped abruptly following an official order.
For a more thorough report of Dr Galdes' testimony, read our report.
B. Malta Security Service chief Joseph Bugeja testified on Wednesday, in large part behind closed doors.
His remark in open court that Cabinet secretary Mario Cutajar sat in on security service committee meetings had the Caruana Galizia family's lawyers perplexed.
The government later published an internal memo dating back to 2001 which allowed the Cabinet secretary to attend such meetings.
C. A third inquiry hearing was held on Friday and was entirely behind closed doors.
Welcome
2.14pm Good afternoon and welcome to this live blog. We will be bringing you minute-by-minute updates from the law courts in Valletta, where the Caruana Galizia public inquiry is continuing.
Joe Bannister, who led the MFSA for almost 20 years, is scheduled to testify today.
We've also received word that a witness who already testified in recent weeks might take the stand for a second time. But we haven't confirmed that yet, so we'll leave it at that for now.