Maria Efimova has raised €15,000 to apply for whistleblower status in Malta and pay an "independent company" to verify documents she says will name the real owner of secret offshore company Egrant Inc.

More than 450 people backed the former Pilatus Bank employee, pledging €15,130 for her cause through an online fundraising campaign.

She had told Times of Malta that she plans on spending €12,000 on an “independent” and “neutral” company based in the EU to authenticate the signatures appearing on Pilatus Bank documents, which are in her possession.

Ms Efimova had previously passed information to journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, who claimed that Egrant Inc was owned by former prime minister Joseph Muscat’s wife, Michelle.

A magisterial inquiry later found no proof to support the claim and even called for criminal proceedings against Ms Efimova for calumny.

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