Status: 09/01/2021 3:25 p.m.
The Maltese Pilatus Bank is said to pay a fine of millions. She was involved in dubious transactions, according to the responsible financial regulator. Research by the murdered journalist Caruana Galizia had already suggested money laundering.
A Maltese bank researched by journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, who was murdered in 2017, has been fined millions for dubious financial activities. The Pilatus Bank was at the center of Caruana Galizia’s research. The institute is said to have looked away from suspicious transactions at hundreds of millions of euros, as investigators found out.
The Maltese Financial Enlightenment Unit (FIAU) imposed a fine of around 4.9 million euros on the bank. In November 2018, more than a year after Caruana Galizia’s murder in a car bomb, the money house was closed.
Opaque transactions via Pilatus accounts
The investigative journalist and blogger Caruana Galizia wrote extensively about the financial institution and accused it of laundering money for dictators, among other things. A trial in connection with the murder has been going on for years, in which one in three defendants pleaded guilty. Also involved is a wealthy businessman who is accused of financing the murder.
An association of journalists who continued Caruana Galizia’s work revealed in April 2018 that Azerbaijan’s top elite used a network of 50 companies with accounts at the bank to move millions of dollars across Europe.
In the FIAU report, the auditors listed a number of serious and systemic errors. This results in a complete disregard for measures against money laundering on the part of the bank. In around 97 percent of the cases examined, the bank had outdated information. In 86 percent of the cases, the bank approved transfers without adequate verification.