Swedes stop Malta pension fund run by MP, say capital obtained deceitfully

The Swedish pensions agency has written to Nationalist MP Tonio Fenech informing him that it has delisted a Maltese pension fund he runs with two other directors, after accusing Falcon Funds SICAV of “failing to carry out its assignment in prudent and professional manner.”

The pensions agency, which earlier this year suspended Falcon Funds on suspicion that some of its underlying investments could not be reliably valued, accused it of marketing the pension fund in breach of Swedish law.

The agency said Falcon Funds’ distributor in Sweden, Stellum, had contracted the Konsumentkfraft call centre between July and September 2015 to convince pension savers to put all their savings in Falcon Fund.

READ MORE Tonio Fenech fends off Swedish pensions headache

The Swedish pension agency accused Falcon Funds of being responsible for the actions of the Konsumentkraft, which used misleading sales tactics to convince savers to move their pensions from one private fund, to Falcon Funds.

The Swedish agency’s investigation found that the transfers to Falcon Funds “originate from deceitful and fraudulent actions in relation to Swedish pension savers, carried out by insurance intermediaries or call-centre companies controlled or connected to Mr Emil Amir Ingmanson, who in his turn is connected to Falcon Funds and Temple Asset Management, the investment manager of Falcon Funds.

“Based on the investigation, the Agency must draw the conclusion that Falcon Funds or Temple must be aware of the manner in which the capital has been invested.”

Ingmanson is a Swedish entrepreneur whom Fenech has acknowledged as the business introducer who initiated Falcon Funds.

But Ingmanson is also seeking an investment licence for Falcon Asset Management so that he can take over from Temple Asset Management as the investment manager of Falcon Funds. Both Temple and Falcon Asset Management share the same address.

“The Agency reserves its rights to claim full compensation for damages and costs it has suffered due to Falcon Funds’ breach of the co-operation agreement,” the agency said in a 15-page document it addressed to Tonio Fenech.

Falcon Funds’ three sub-funds will now be subject to immediate redemption.

“Regardless of Falcon Funds’ position or stance in relation to the agency’s termination of the co-Operation agreement, the Agency expects Falcon Funds’ full co-operation in order to ensure an immediate, transparent and orderly redemption of the agency’s shares in the sub-funds, to be carried out in accordance with Maltese law and the redemption rules in the applicable prospectus for Falcon Funds.”