Dubai bank closed down 17 Black account, handed Fenech €1.5 million in two cheques

A Dubai bank closed down the accounts earlier this year of the secret offshore company belonging to Tumas magnate Yorgen Fenech, since charged with the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia.

Fenech was charged last month with complicity in the 2017 killing of Daphne Caruana Galizia, who had written about his company, 17 Black Limited, shortly before her death. He has denied the accusation.

According to Reuters, two banking officials told the agency that prior to the murder accusation, Noor Bank handed Fenech two cheques totaling 6.1 million dirhams ($1.7 million) when in April 2019 it closed the accounts established in the name 17 Black.

One official, the acting head of the United Arab Emirates’ Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), Ali Faisal Ba’Alawi, said the bank had decided to hand back the money, deeming the customer to be “high risk”. This happened just months after a Reuters investigation had identified Fenech as the owner in November 2018.

Dated 23 April, 2019, the cheques have not yet been deposited. Reuters could not determine why Fenech did not deposit the cheques at another bank after Noor returned the funds to him.

The two cheques in his name are the first documented evidence that connects him to the company.

Eight months before her death, Caruana Galizia wrote in her blog about 17 Black. She alleged it was connected to Maltese politicians, but no evidence has so far emerged to back up her assertion.

In a telephone interview, Ba’Alawi said the money was released to Fenech because no valid freezing order had been received from any authority, including Malta. If requested, the cash could still be blocked, he said. “I can confirm these cheques have not been deposited anywhere so everything remains as is,” he said, after being shown by Reuters copies of the cheques issued to Fenech.

The copies of the cheques were passed by an anonymous source to the Daphne Project, a group of media organizations, including Reuters, that has continued some of Caruana Galizia’s work.

Registered as an offshore company in the UAE emirate Ajman, 17 Black opened accounts at Noor Bank in 2015. In 2017, after Caruana Galizia wrote about it, it was renamed Wings Development Ltd.

Ba’Alawi said his Financial Intelligence Unit could and would give full permission to Malta to use the intelligence as evidence for a police investigation or court, if Malta made a request.

“In our case, if that consent is sought, we provide that consent,” he said.

Ba’Alawi added that if any information was lacking “they have full right to ask for further information”.

A spokesman for the Financial Intelligence and Analysis Unit (FIAU) said that it was for the police and courts to make additional requests for legal assistance from another country, either to produce evidence that could be used in court or to freeze funds.

The Maltese senior investigator in the case said that legal discussions were ongoing between the UAE and Malta to secure all necessary evidence and seize any funds, if appropriate.