Malta’s financial regulator has appointed a new administrator to wind up the scandal-hit Satabank.

Richard Galea Debono, a lawyer who specialises in contract law, has been appointed controller of the bank by the Malta Financial Services Authority, taking over from Ernst & Young.

The appointment became effective on October 30.

Galea Debono has been instructed to “wind up and liquidate the controlled asset,” the MFSA said in a statement announcing his appointment.

Satabank had its banking licence withdrawn by the European Central Bank last July, roughly 18 months after the MFSA froze its roughly 12,000 accounts on suspicions that the bank had broken money laundering rules.

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