In the first months after the March 2013 election, the government licensed Ali Sadr Hashemi Nejad, an Iranian national with multiple identities and citizenships, to open a European bank in Malta. In spite of protestations by Malta’s authorities that Pilatus Bank was clean as a whistle, investigations by the European Central Bank determined that Pilatus Bank was a money-laundering machine for its clients and the bank was ultimately shut down. But that only happened after the bank’s owner was arrested in the USA and charged with bank fraud alleged to have been committed before Pilatus Bank was set up. The charges against him were dropped because of Brady violations after he was convicted by a jury in a federal court. It is a reasonable conclusion, however, that the evidence showed that Pilatus Bank itself was funded from proceeds of earlier crimes.
Daphne Caruana Galizia reported extensively on money-laundering at Pilatus Bank. Her sources, those that were discovered, were subjected to a systematic campaign of intimidation. She was subjected to potentially the most expensive SLAPP suit in the country’s libel history.
An inquiry into allegations that Joseph Muscat or his wife used Pilatus Bank to receive and transfer illicit funds did not find evidence of these transactions. It is not the scope of this Inquiry to review the conclusions or re-examine the findings of a magisterial inquiry. It is, however, pertinent to point out that the State denied any and all of Daphne’s reporting about Pilatus Bank whether this was about the “Michelle Muscat account” or not. The denials proved untruthful and the bank was shut down.