Banks freeze Iranian assets held in Malta

Maltese banks have frozen liquid assets held by Iranian holdings blacklisted under United Nations and European Union sanctions, over nuclear proliferation charges.

Finance Minister Tonio Fenech yesterday informed the House that some Maltese banks had frozen unspecified amounts being held in the financial institutions, by entities in the Iranian sanctions' blacklist. He was replying to a parliamentary question by Labour MP Leo Brincat.

"I am informed these amounts have bee reported to the authorities and are nothing close to the considerable figures reported in the media recently, but substantially less. For confidentiality reasons, I am not going to specify exact figures, but I can assure you they are nothing exceptional," Fenech said

Fenech said he had no specific figures of Iranian holdings in Maltese financial institutions.

The new EU sanctions ban all new oil contracts with Iran and freeze the assets of Iran's central bank in the EU. The sanctions prohibit the import, purchase and transport of Iranian crude oil and petroleum products as well as related finance and insurance. All existing contracts will have to be phased out by 1 July.

Investment as well as the export of key equipment and technology for Iran's petrochemical sector is also banned. The EU currently buys about 20% of Iran's oil exports.