FIU Malta | FinTelegram News

June 5, 2022

Malta’s FIAU Excessively Over-Fined Notorious Satabank!

A fine imposed on the now-defunct Bulgarian-owned laundromat Satabank plc by Malta's Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit (FIAU) has been slashed from €327,500 to €68,000 after the bank appealed the penalty. The FIAU announced that a fine they had issued against the bank in October 2018 had been reduced by the Court of Appeal (Inferior Jurisdiction). As usual, details of the judgment have not been disclosed to the public. Satabank became notorious with a €3.7M AML/CFT penalty.

May 23, 2022

Regulatory Issues! Malta’s FIAU sued by N Trust Limited!

A wave of court cases has been filed in Malta’s courts against the FIAU, headed by Kenneth Farrugia. The regulator is under harsh criticism for acting late or not acting at all against the big fish while being too strong with the weak. The FIAU dished out a €94,868 fine against N Trust Limited earlier this year. N Trust Limited has appealed the fine and sued the FIAU for allegedly acting as judge, jury, and prosecutor, which would violate constitutional and human rights.

FIU Malta

April 27, 2022

Malta’s FIAU over-fined a company five times more than the law permitted!

On the last day of 2019, FIAU fined the then MFSA-regulated Maltese financial institution Corporate & Commercial FX Services Ltd (CCFX), some €156,202. The company immediately appealed this fine. The Malta Court of Appeal (Civil Inferior), after more than two years, delivered its judgment. According to Judge Lawrence Mintoff, the fine should have been €31,240. However, the criticized Maltese FIAU fined the company five times more than what the law permitted.

April 12, 2022

Russian-owned Staern Limited surrenders Maltese crypto license!

Some €60 billion in crypto moved through Malta after it first announced itself as the "blockchain island." One of the crypto ventures that moved to the crypto island was Staern Limited, registered in Malta in May 2020. The company was awarded a Virtual Financial Asset (VFA) license by the MFSA soon after. However, the “blockchain island” became a disaster. Staern has now surrendered its license. The sole shareholder of Staern is the Russian Khetag Albegov.

January 11, 2022

Malta FIUA fines Southern Cross SICAV for money-laundering issues!

Allegedly, millions flowed through the Maltese investment fund Southern Cross SICAV plc without proper controls to prevent money-laundering and terrorism financing. The Maltese FIAU found that Southern Cross SIVAC had a “disregard” for its anti-money laundering obligations. The fund is in the process of surrendering its MFSA license. The FIU has imposed a fine on the company in the amount of €303,710 for the “serious” failures during its years in operation.

July 16, 2021

Neglecting Eurojust Guidelines – Maltese Authorities refuse to investigate scam-facilitator Paytah

Malta is greylisted for good reasons, mostly for their failing regulators. Malta-licensed, Phoenix Payments Ltd d/b/a Paytah, refuses to assist the many victims who wired money to the company to top their accounts with broker scams like RoyalsFX, LincolnFX, or CodeFX. Victims reported these transactions to the MFSA. The regulator replied that they would not investigate and asked the victims to report Paytah to the Central Bank of Malta, which replied that it would not investigate such complaints. The victims also emailed Kenneth Farrugia, the Director of Malta Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit, who did not reply.

July 12, 2021

Greylisted Malta and its disgraced regulators!

The Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit (FIAU) of Malta is being highly criticized for paying Maltese online portals and newspapers for positive reportage in its regard. This is very telling and indeed shocking for a European country. Only last month, Malta has been placed on the grey list by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which makes the European tax haven much less attractive. Who wants to be a tax resident or owner of a company in a grey-listed jurisdiction? And then there's the strange approach of the Maltese regulators.

Category: FIU Malta