David Casa calls on European Banking Authority to investigate Nexia BT

The PN MEP has told the EBA to expand its investigation into the FIAU to include the corporate services firm, arguing that it should not be allowed to operate without consequence

PN MEP David Casa
PN MEP David Casa

Nationalist Party MEP David Casa has called on the European Banking Authority (EBA) to broaden its investigation into the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit (FIAU) to include way in which the unit treated Nexia BT, the corporate services firm that opened secret Panama companies for government officials.

Casa’s request comes days after the EBA published findings showing that the FIAU had breached the EU’s anti-money laundering directives.

“Action plans are not worth the paper they are printed on so long as Nexia BT continues to operate without consequence,” Casa said. “It is Nexia BT’s continued operation that confirms the capture of the regulatory authorities and their serious and systemic dereliction of duty.”

In his letter to the EBA, Casa said that the firm was at the centre of several cases of money laundering and corruption, “involving also Pilatus Bank and top Maltese Government officials”.

Referring to a leaked FIAU report, which he presented to an inquiring magistrate earlier this year, and which has said contains evidence of wrongdoing by Tourism minister Konrad Mizzi, Casa said it was clear that Nexia BT had misled the FIAU.

“It shows how documents were fabricated to support public statements made by politicians and how pertinent information was withheld from FIAU investigators,” said Casa.

“It is the FIAU itself that reached these conclusions, making their inaction all the more disturbing.”

NGOs write to Moneyval

Meanwhile, the NGO Il-Kenniesa together with French NGO Sherpa have written to Moneyval – the European Council’s money laundering and terrorism financing monitoring body – ahead of its 5th round of mutual evaluations.

The groups called on Moneyval to monitor the practices of the Maltese Services Financial Authority (MFSA), and to take into account in particular the Pilatus Bank case in its evaluation of Malta.

They said they were “placing an official request to Moneyval to monitor the MFSA in relation to the facts denounced by Daphne Caruana Galizia”.

In their request, both organisations stress the importance of MONEYVAL's role as a leading international partner in the global network of AML/CFT evaluation bodies and as an associate member of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

“For the record, the journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, murdered on October 16, 2017, discovered links between Pilatus bank and the Maltese government and also the existence of bank accounts opened by relatives of the Azeri regime. She suspected Pilatus bank of laundering funds,” the NGOs said.