The inquiring magistrate who led the inquest into Pilatus Bank clearly instructed Police Commissioner Angelo Gafà and Attorney General Victoria Buttigieg to initiate criminal proceedings against high-ranking officials working for the now defunct bank.
This emerged during an anti-corruption protest held on Tuesday evening by rule of law NGO Repubblika. The protest was called after The Shift News published a once-secret Security of Supply Agreement signed by the Maltese government, in which it acted as a guarantor for Electrogas in its undertaking with SOCAR.
Addressing those present, Aquilina reminded that in June, the NGO filed challenge proceedings against Police Commissioner Angelo Gafà over the police’s inaction following the conclusion of the Pilatus Bank magisterial inquiry. Last week, the NGO stood by its evidence that a magisterial inquiry into Pilatus Bank called for the prosecution of the bank’s top officials and for fresh investigations into secret Panamanian company Egrant, Aquilina also submitted excerpts of the inquiry which he had personally authenticated.
Through its lawyer Jason Azzopardi, the NGO submitted a sworn application after Magistrate Nadine Lia dismissed its request to recuse herself from challenge proceedings it had initiated against Gafà for the Police’s failure to follow these recommendations. The request was made in light of her family ties: she is the daughter-in-law of Pawlu Lia, a lawyer to former prime minister Joseph Muscat and former lawyer to Muscat’s chief of staff of Keith Schembri.
In her decree, Lia dismissed Repubblika’s claims on the Pilatus inquiry as “hearsay,” shedding doubts on whether the inquiry had been concluded and on the veracity of the order to prosecute various top officials of the now-defunct bank, prompting Repubblika to submit excerpts of the inquiry as evidence. And Aquilina has even taken the step of personally authenticating these excerpts as a genuine copy of the original: a step that naturally cannot be taken lightly by a notary public.
On Tuesday, Aquilina revealed the contents of the documents which he himself authenticated and submitted in court.
The inquiring magistrate made the expert report his own, and then instructed the competent authorities – the Police Commissioner and the Attorney General – to act in accordance to law and initiate criminal proceedings against the bank, the bank’s money laundering reporting officer Claude-Anne Sant Fournier, the bank’s former chief operating officer, Luis Felipe Rivera, bank’s operations supervisor Mehmet Tasli, former bank owner Ali Sadr Hasheminejad, accounting officer, chief risk officer, acting money laundering reporting officer Antoniella Gauci, and director Hamidreza Ghambari.
Addressing Gafà and Buttigieg, Aquilina said: “Which part of this excerpt did you not understand?” He questioned their lack of inaction. Before he went on to quote from the independent expert’s report which was included in the inquiry report.
The expert had recommended seeking information from US authorities of whether the alleged $1.017 million Egrant transaction took place and if so which banks were involved. It also recommended that Maria Efimova is interviewed on the alleged Egrant accounts and transactions as well the alleged parallel accounting system. The expert also suggested that a former employee is also interviewed about the alleged parallel system and illegal actions noted by the employee during her time at the bank.
“In simple words, the inquiring magistrate is ordering another inquiry into the third off-shore Panamanian company, Egrant,” Aquilina said, and stressed: “Now you can understand why the Prime Corruption sent his bulldog [Pawlu Lia] to me.”
He added that therefore Lia was being summoned for the next sitting.
Speaking about Gafà’s and Buttigieg’s inaction in the Pilatus Bank inquiry, Repubblika’s president said they both ignored a legitimate order issued by an inquiring magistrate.
“They should be ashamed of allowing Magistrate Lia sow doubts on what I have said under oath, and they did not even have the decency to say I was indeed telling the truth,” he said.
The situation is absurd, Aquilina maintained, adding that now the NGO has to convince the court that the court itself ordered the police commissioner and the attorney general to initiate criminal proceedings.
“And Magistrate Lia instead of ordering the police to initiate criminal proceedings and ordered the police to investigate me and get to my sources,” he added, adding that he will continue protecting his sources.
The Pilatus Bank inquiry was concluded in March 2021, and the inquiring magistrate had signed the international arrest warrants against the persons mentioned in the report. In October last year, Mehmet Tasli was in court where he was cross-examined by two lawyers from the Attorney General’s Office, and was allowed to leave the courthouse and the country, despite being the subject of an international arrest warrant.
“We demand concrete action against corruption,” Aquilina told the crowds gathered in Valletta.
“Corruption creates injustices, and no good can come out of corruption,” he concluded.
“You reap what you sow” – Manuel Delia
Journalist Manuel Delia also addressed the protest march, and said murder suspect Yorgen Fenech, who is a former Electrogas director, and his friends “invested” in our ministers and took of them.
“Fenech and his friends are businessmen. They know that to make money one must invest their money.”
Speaking about the once-secret Security of Supply Agreement, Delia underlined that Electrogas did not invest any money in the project but instead taxpayers’ money was used to invest in the project.
“We took the risk from our taxes,” Delia said, whilst he noted that Electrogas would have reaped the benefits, but if things went south, taxpayers’ money would have been used.
“This wasn’t a normal contract. Instead of investing half a billion euros to build the power station, they invested two million euros and promised them to Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri. Instead of securing their loans against a hypothec on their hotels and property, they gave a watch and two bottles of wine to Joseph Muscat, and went to the banks with a state guarantee,” he said.
The activist observed that the truth is still coming out against all odds, and despite of the authorities’ inaction.
Delia also urged the public that one has to fight for justice and warned that you reap what you sow.
The protest was also addressed by Occupy Justice activist Joanna Agius.
Tuesday’s protest was endorsed by ADPD and Volt Malta*, however the other political parties did not endorse the anti-corruption protest following the revelations earlier this week in connection to the scandal-ridden Electrogas project.
*Correction: An earlier version stated that only ADPD endorsed the protest