Thread by @nimkef

7 July 2019

Satabank has been slapped with a record €3M fine for widespread breaches of money laundering laws.

timesofmalta.com/articles/view/…

The bank has been on regulators’ radar ever since a joint inspection by the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) and FIAU last year found extremely weak structures in place to prevent its clients from using it to launder potential proceeds of criminal activity.

This led regulators to come down hard on the bank, freezing all its funds and appointing EY to administer its assets. Police and financial regulators have since been inspecting transactions w/ potential links to fuel smuggling, drug trafficking and trade with sanctioned countries

One source familiar with Satabank’s operations said the bank felt hard done by the multi-million euro fine, particularly given the way Pilatus Bank had escaped any sanction by the FIAU.

Satabank poor risk management structures had already attracted a €60k fine from the MFSA in July 2018

Bank of Valletta is appealing an FIAU fine

Another on the list of appellants against the FIAU is Baltimore Fiduciary, a local Co. investigated for its role in money-laundering

MaltaToday had revealed how a money-laundering probe by the police in early 2013 was placed on the back-burner once MP Beppe Fenech Adami’s name cropped up as a director of Baltimore Finance.

Contacted about the FIAU fine which is being appealed by Baltimore Finance, Dr Beppe Fenech Adami said he is no longer involved in the company, having resigned as a director many years back.

Another name on the appeal list is that of Portmann Capital Management, a Maltese company allegedly involved in money-laundering linked to Venezualan President Nicolas Maduro.

The Sunday Times of Malta has previously reported how the company was slapped with a €350,000 fine, which at the time, was a record for an FIAU sanction.

https://twitter.com/nimkef/status/1433496941648830467?s=20