Pilatus Bank has dismissed concerns flagged by MEPs following a fact-finding mission to Malta last month, insisting they made “erroneous statements”.

In a letter to delegation chairwoman Ana Gomes on Wednesday in reply to questions put after the visit, chief executive officer Hamidreza Ghanbari said that, before answering, the bank wanted to “rectify and clarify some erroneous statements” in their report.

The visiting MEPs had concluded the European Central Bank and the European Banking Authority should investigate whether the fact that Ta’ Xbiex-based Pilatus Bank continued to hold a licence to operate within the EU warranted ECB/EBA intervention.

Such a business model is the norm for small private banks

Mr Ghanbari said some delegation members questioned the bank’s business model. Pilatus, he continued, wanted to “emphasise that such a business model is the norm for small private banks”, pointing out that the bank’s vision was to “bring to the table a new way of private banking”.

He reiterated that the bank had never dealt with the Dubai-registered company 17 Black the MEPs mentioned and which, according to a leaked report drawn up by the government’s anti-money laundering agency, FIAU, was set up for the purpose of transferring money to the secret Panama companies held by Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi and the Prime Minister’s chief of staff, Keith Schembri.

Nor did the bank have any dealings with Panama companies Egrant, Hearnville and Tillgate or Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, his wife and members of his family, Mr Ghanbari insisted.

He said the bank was also “particularly concerned about the false statements” made by Maria Efimova, a former bank employee turned whistleblower at the heart of the Egrant allegations.

“The bank understands that Ms Efimova is wanted by Malta and Cyprus authorities. All these elements make her unreliable for the purposes of providing objective and relevant information about the bank, its business model, its clients and the market it operates in.

“What she says is entirely unsubstantiated and was contradicted by the statements of the bank’s officials who were heard during the meeting as well as independent third parties such as KPMG and Camilleri Preziosi Advocates,” Mr Ghanbari wrote.

When referring to the information sought by the delegation, he addressed two of the four requests, citing confidentiality and legal restrictions.

The MEPs wanted to know whether the suspicious transaction report filed by the bank was related to Mr Schembri, former European commissioner John Dalli and his daughters, or 17 Black.

Mr Ghanbari said the Prevention of Money Laundering Act prevented the bank from disclosing such information. Similarly, he said copies of the compliance reports by the FIAU could not be handed over to the delegation because such correspondence was “strictly confidential”.

On the breakdown of the bank’s clients, he said they had connections with Europe and its territories, North America and the Middle East, with clients categorised as politically exposed persons hailing from Azerbaijan.

Rule of law again in the limelight

The rule of law in Malta came under fire again on Thursday as the European Parliament’s Civil Liberties Committee debated the findings of a fact-finding mission to the island late last year.

The letter sent by Pilatus Bank “does very little to alleviate the very serious concerns we have with the way the bank operates"

Ana Gomes, who headed the delegation to Malta, said the issues highlighted in the mission’s report impacted all Member States.

She made a series of questions saying she said hoped the government would answer.

Nationalist MEP Roberta Metsola said she wanted to make it clear the “rot” highlighted in the delegation’s report did not represent the characteristics of the majority of the people of Malta.

She said the letter sent by Pilatus Bank “does very little to alleviate the very serious concerns we have with the way the bank operates. It is telling us they have used their reply to again go after a whistle-blower at the heart of grave corruption and money-laundering allegations and have stepped up the campaign to intimidate her into silence.”

Nationalist MEP David Casa said Justice Minister Owen Bonnici, who was present for the meeting, listed the government’s achievements rather than answering questions.

Dr Bonnici referred to an article that appeared in The Sunday Times of Malta (‘Majority do not believe law is respected in Malta, survey finds – More than half optimistic about Malta’s future’, November 5, 2017), saying it proved the wide popular approval the government enjoyed. He then listed initiatives he said were taken by the Labour government to enforce the rule of law.