Prosecutors in money laundering proceedings against Pilatus Bank have still not explained the relevance of over 160 boxes of documents seized from the now-shuttered bank and lawyers are insisting on an explanation, a court was told.
“The prosecution presented everything, lock, stock and barrel,” argued defence lawyer Stefano Filletti when criminal proceedings resumed against former Pilatus Bank money laundering reporting officer, Claude-Ann Sant Fournier.
The former senior official is pleading not guilty to aiding and abetting money laundering activities both in her personal as well as former official capacity.
“Every single paper from the bank, including cards and scraps of paper inside waste baskets were seized during the magisterial inquiry and presented in court,” argued Filletti, pointing out that the prosecution was expected to identify which documents were relevant to the charges.
The matter had already been flagged in previous sittings when Sant Fournier’s lawyers warned that they would insist upon an explanation as to the relevance of every single document in those “160 boxes of papers” and over 30 terabytes of data, as far as their client was concerned.
And that is precisely what the lawyers requested when the case resumed this week.
Before the compilation was wrapped up, the defence wished to avail itself of the right to produce evidence by questioning and cross-examining every expert appointed in the magisterial inquiry and whose reports formed part of the records of the case.
They also wanted investigators to testify about the relevance of each document presented by the prosecution because so far no one had explained the contents of “those 160 boxes of papers” and how they related to the charges brought against Sant Fournier, minuted Filletti at the start of the sitting.
Such explanation was needed to prepare a valid defence, the court was told.
That position was backed by lawyer Stefan Camilleri who is assisting PWC partner Fabio Axisa, appointed as competent person to represent Pilatus Bank in the money laundering proceedings. AG lawyer Cinzia Azzopardi Alamango rebutted that at compilation stage the function of the court was to gather evidence.
The relevance or admissibility of that evidence was a matter to be raised before the appropriate forum, the prosecuting lawyer argued.
The court, presided over by magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech, said that a decision on this matter would be taken at a later date.
At a previous hearing, defence lawyers had argued that “flooding a court case with over 400,000 documents and over 60 terabytes of data” meant that there had been no screening by the prosecution and that would “unnecessarily lengthen the case.”
The case continues.
Inspectors Claire Borg and Pauline Bonello are prosecuting, assisted by AG lawyers Cinzia Azzopardi Alamango and Marthese Grech.
Lawyers Stefano Filletti and Kathleen Calleja Grima are counsel to Sant Fournier.