CC Finance Group plc reported heavy losses in its financial statements ending June 2022, as reported by Fintelegram. It now transpires that CC Finance Group, the company behind Calamatta Cuschieri, has entered into a promise of sale agreement to sell its offices in Valletta for € 3.15 million. No reason was given behind the sale of this building in Malta’s capital city. It was announced that a board of directors meeting shall be convened on 21 April 2023.
The Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) just keeps making headlines for the wrong reasons. Shocking court testimony by an MFSA official revealed that two MFSA officials hid documents from the magisterial inquiry into the operations of Pilatus Bank in a safe on the Authority’s premises that was only accessible by two people who are no longer at the Authority. This testimony was revealed on Maltese television by a local NGO President.
Malta’s Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit (FIAU) has been sued by more than a dozen companies and professionals. The authority is accused of having breached Malta’s Constitution and the European Convention for Human Rights, given that it acts as judge, jury, and prosecutor. The same entity that decides whom and when to investigate or not carries out the investigation and then decides on the punishment to be given has been trying to defend itself at Malta’s courts.
The Maltese CC Finance Group plc, which includes Moneybase and Calamatta Cuschieri Investments Services Limited, registered a loss of €869,000 for the year ended 30th June 2022. This has definitely been a bad year for the Calamata Cuschieri Group. After the year-end, Calamatta Cuschieri Investments Services was found guilty of not meeting the relevant regulatory obligations and ordered by the Maltese court to refund an investor more than €100,000.
Questions sent to the acting CEO of the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA), Michelle Mizzi Buontempo, have remained unanswered. Calamatta Cuschieri Investments Services Limited, a MFSA-licensed firm, has been named by a convicted criminal under oath in court, for dishing him out some €500,000 in cash. She was asked whether the MFSA considers such dodgy transactions as legal and if an investigation into Calamatta Cuschieri’s operations is being carried out.
Malta’s CC Funds, owned by Calamatta Cuschieri Investments Management, are still registering major losses. Only a handful out of 23 funds has registered a positive return since inception. CC Funds form part of CC Finance Group plc and operate from Malta. The Emerging Market Bond Fund Eur Dist and the Emerging Market Bond Fund Eur Dist lost more than a third of their value since inception. The Growth Strategy fund, which was only registered in November 2021, has almost a quarter of its value.
Fintelegram can reveal that the Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) has been using the services of outsourced lawyers rather than its in-house lawyers to defend itself against license holders and selected persons. One of the law firms that is raking in tens of thousands of euros is GVZH Advocates. It is not known how they were selected. Fintelegram is publishing proof that this law firm has been enjoying a hefty retainer for years. The published invoice is addressed to MGA CEO Carl Brincat.
A few months ago, the Maltese Arbiter for Financial Services ruled that Calamatta Cuschieri Investments Services Limited is guilty of not meeting the relevant obligations. The detailed decision describes how an investor lost more than €100,000 through investments that were suggested to him by Malta's Calamatta Cushieri Investments Services. The company appealed the fine, but on 1st July 2022, the Maltese Courts, through Judge Lawrence Mintoff, confirmed the Arbiter's decision.