Daphne Caruana Galizia | FinTelegram News

Tag: Daphne Caruana Galizia

January 2, 2023

Really? Former MFSA Officials Hid Pilatus Bank Documents In Office!

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 Financial Services Authority

January 2, 2023

MFSA: The Maltese Intransparency Problems With Its Regulators Continue!

The regulatory environment in Malta is different. Very different, indeed. The Maltese online platform Shift revealed that Malta Financial Services Authority (MFS) entered into a questionable arrangement to pay its retired former CEO Joseph Gavin some €65,000 for him to “give a handover” to the new acting CEO, a senior MFSA executive. Gavin stepped down last summer after being absent from work for over a month but was still paid €11,000 per month.

December 19, 2022

That’s Malta, Stupid! The EU Should Start To Ask Critical Questions About Money Laundering!

A new study calls Malta a money laundering hub in connection with gambling activities. Nothing new here! In May 2017, whistleblower Valery Atanasov, a former MGA employee, exposed email exchanges that demonstrated that the regulator had broken its own rules between 2012 and 2014 and created "conditions that allow suspicious financial operations, money laundering, and other criminal practices.” Joseph Cuschieri, the then-CEO, was awarded the post of CEO of the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA).

Corruption

October 20, 2022

The Maltese Blogger Killing – New Convictions But Still Waiting For The Alleged Masterminds’ Trials!

Last week, two brothers, George Degiorgio, 59, and Alfred Degiorgio, 57, charged with the car-bomb assassination of the Maltese journalist and blogger Daphne Caruana Galizia in October 2017 have been sentenced to a 40-year prison term. They pleaded guilty to her murder on the first day of their trial. Caruana Galizia, the "one-woman Wikileaks" had investigated political corruption in Malta and abroad. She was known as a harsh critic of the Maltese government.

Malta Financial Services Authority

October 18, 2022

Malta’s MFSA Refuses To Answer Questions On Calamatta Cuschieri’s Operations

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.

August 16, 2022

Bank of Valletta’s Chairman Acting As A Consultant To Malta’s Gaming Authority

Bank of Valletta (BOV) is considered Malta’s largest bank. In October 2020, Gordon Cordina was appointed as Chairman of the bank. Presently, 25% of the Bank's equity is held by the Government of Malta, UniCredit S.p.A. holds 10.20%, and the remaining 64.80% is in the hands of the general public. Fintelegram can reveal and publish proof that the BOV Chairman is a co-owner of Malta-registered E-Cubed Consultants Limited. He owns 50% of this company. E-Cubed Consultants has been receiving around €3,500 per month from the Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) for so-called consultancy services.

August 12, 2022

MFSA’s Edwina Licari And Joseph Cuschieri Splashed Malta’s Taxpayers’ Monies!

Joseph Cuschieri was the CEO of the Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) when he was appointed as CEO of the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) in 2018. Cuschieri decided to be accompanied by his long-term friend Edwina Licari, who joined him from MGA. During their term at MFSA, they traveled on 38 “business” trips together and spent €0.5 million from taxpayers’ monies. During a 2017 trip to Johannesburg, South Africa, they stayed at the luxurious Emperors Palace.

Malta Financial Services Authority

August 9, 2022

Seriously? MFSA CEO Joseph Gavin Will Be Stepping Down!

Well, that's a bit strange! But then, it's Malta. MFSA's Irish CEO Joseph Gavin will be retiring early and stepping down from his role later this year following a recent absence for medical reasons., MFSA informed in a one-sentence notice. The Irish lawyer was appointed to the financial regulator in July of 2021 on a package reportedly worth €160,000. Gavin previously served as general counsel within the Central Bank of Ireland between 2009 and 2015.

May 20, 2022

MGA’s Chief Internal Audit James Grech Resigns

The Maltese regualator MGA has been hitting the headlines for the wrong reasons during the past years. Following resignations, including that of Heathcliff Farrugia and Anton Axiaq, both being prosecuted for alleged serious crimes, the Chief Internal Auditor of MGA, James Grech resigned for unknown reasons. The regulator did not make any announcement of the departure. James Grech was enrolled within MGA during the days when disgraced Joseph Cuschieri was at the helm of the Authority.

April 13, 2022

Embarrassing: And Malta Gaming Authority official is investigated for basketball match-fixing

How much disgrace and national damage can regulators produce? In Malta, a lot! A Malta league basketball match is the subject of a major police investigation in Malta. The smallest EU country is well-known as a hub for gaming companies. One of the match players, Anton Axiaq, happens to be a Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) official. He works within the IT section. Maltese media reported that a criminal police investigation is underway.

March 16, 2022

Malta’s MFSA saw no reason why to deny a license to Pilatus Bank

The smallest EU State, Malta was the first European Union state ever to be greylisted. The FATF grey listed Malta in June 2021. In 2014, the MFSA had issued a banking license to Pilatus Bank. There was no reason for Pilatus Bank to be refused a banking license when it applied for one, Andre Camilleri, the then-director-general of MFSA, said in courts. Pilatus Bank had its license revoked by the ECB in 2018 after the bank’s chairman, Ali Sadr Hasheminejad, was indicted on money laundering charges in the U.S.

March 6, 2022

Malta’s structural problems with money laundering and corruption hurt the financial sector!

Malta became a money-laundering and financial crime hub. In 2017, the investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia was killed with a car bomb after revealing high-level government corruption. The alleged mastermind Yorgen Fenech, close to the then-Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, was arrested. Muscat had to resign shortly after the arrest. Fenech was also close to Joseph Cuschieri, the former head of MGA and MFSA. Since then, the shares of Malta's largest two banks, the Bank of Valletta and HSBC Bank Malta plc lost more than half the value.