An illuminated spider’s web rests on a tree on the Ta’ Xbiex marina, outside a building that used to once host the scandal-racked Pilatus Bank.
The web is not a playful Halloween prop: it was installed by activists from pressure group Occupy Justice to note that key figures behind the bank have yet to be prosecuted, despite a magisterial inquiry finding evidence of money laundering and trading in influence.
In a statement issued late on Friday night, Occupy Justice said the web represented the “web of corruption” that has allowed those criminally responsible for the bank and its deeds to get away with it.
“The general public is being hoodwinked into thinking that all is as it should be, and that the wheels of justice are well-oiled and working smoothly. But the only thing being spun at an alarming rate is the web of corruption, which started in Castille, led by Joseph Muscat and his cronies, and has now spread to reach and ensnare many institutions, creating a stranglehold on justice and the rule of law,” the activists said.
They noted that more than six years have passed since murdered journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia started probing Pilatus Bank, and that it has been more than two years since a magisterial inquiry had concluded that bank directors should be arrested and charged with crimes.
Despite that conclusion, attorney general Victoria Buttigieg and police commissioner Angelo Gafá have not pressed charges against five of those cited in the inquiry. Nor have they explained that decision, which is being challenged in court by rule of law NGO Repubblika.
Pilatus Bank had its licence withdrawn by the European Central Bank in 2018. Its owner, Ali Sadr Hasheminejad, is now seeking to have all proceedings against himself halted by filing action through a Hong Kong-based company with an international investor-state dispute settlement body.
Occupy Justice cited former prime minister Joseph Muscat and his right-hand man Keith Schembri as being the prime beneficiaries of the bank’s activities and authorities’ reluctance to investigate them.
“The spiders have enjoyed impunity for far too long,” they said. “The cobwebs of corruption must be brushed away, in order for us all to have the good governance we have been denied, and so that Malta’s once-good reputation is restored after years of filth.”