Satabank is set to be formally liquidated, with the bank’s controller advising all creditors to verify the amounts due to them.
The St Julian’s bank was shuttered in 2018 over widespread breaches of money laundering laws.
In a notice in the Government Gazette last Friday, the bank’s liquidator published a 120-page list of the bank’s account holders, and the amounts due to them.
The list of account holders and other creditors with money still trapped at the bank shows some notable names, including Satabank’s co-owner Christo Georgiev.
Georgiev had sued Times of Malta in his native Bulgaria for allegedly damaging his reputation by linking Satabank to suspect activities.
Another notable creditor is investment firm XNT, which has itself landed in hot water with the local authorities over lax anti-money laundering controls.
Superyacht businessman Slim Bouricha has over €100,000 trapped at Satabank.
Ashok Rattehalli, a former Vitals Global Healthcare shareholder, was also bitten by the bank’s closure, with an outstanding balance of €13,000 due to him by Satabank.
EY Limited, who were initially appointed to administer the bank after it was shut down, is owed €123,000, according to the Government Gazette notice.
The amounts due to creditors vary wildly, from a few euros to over €10 million to an e-wallet company.
A public report by the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit (FIAU) laid out how Satabank “blindly” took on a portfolio of clients from another financial institution in 2015 without assessing the money-laundering risks involved.
A review of client portfolios at Satabank revealed “gross deficiencies” in relation to Maltese anti-money laundering and terrorism financing laws, the FIAU said.
“Thus, although the bank became aware of the widespread deficiencies and the risks it exposed itself to, it remained passive and never implemented remedial actions,” it said.
The FIAU said these lax safeguards exposed not only the bank to money-laundering risks but the country as a whole, as Satabank serviced various financial intermediaries and enablers who used the bank to transfer “significant volumes of monies”.
The police were also said to be investigating the bank’s activities.
Satabank was used to provide accounts to two e-money providers owned by Georgiev.
Investigators found that Satabank was in certain instances failing to identify who was behind these e-money accounts, significantly raising the risks that they could be used by criminals.
The FIAU identified how customers on these two e-money platforms were given a great deal of flexibility since they could easily open up to 50 and 25 accounts respectively and be provided with up to five debit cards per customer, with each card having a daily withdrawal limit of €1,000.
Since the bank applied the €1,000 limit per card and not per customer, clients could easily increase the limit to €5,000 per day across the five cards.
This degree of flexibility “substantially increased” Satabank’s risk of being exposed to money laundering and terrorism financing, given that “unverified account holders” could transact significant amounts of money.