Opinion: Crime and punishment

Prime Minister Robert Abela is defending Magistrate Nadine Lia for ordering the police to track down whoever leaked a magisterial inquiry into Labour’s favourite bank, Pilatus.

That inquiry recommended charges against Pilatus’ chairman and Joseph Muscat’s and Keith Schembri’s friend Ali Sadr Hasheminejad for money laundering.

Sadr allegedly helped his bank clients, which included Schembri and Brian Tonna, to transfer, convert and conceal the proceeds of crime.

Magistrate Ian Farrugia signed an international warrant for Ali Sadr’s arrest.  Magistrate Joe Mifsud urged the police to investigate and prosecute anyone else involved in the “Pilatus Bank scandal”.

Instead of investigating Pilatus officials and pursuing the arrest of Ali Sadr, the police conspired with the Attorney General to issue a guarantee to the bank’s top officials that they wouldn’t be prosecuted. Ali Sadr was never charged.

After huge pressure from the European Banking Authority, the FIAU and the MFSA filed a criminal complaint with the police about suspected financial crimes at Pilatus. But even that failed to trigger a police investigation. The police never executed Ali Sadr’s arrest warrant.

The inquiry revealed that Pilatus was a money laundering machine. Keith Schembri allegedly received a €100,000 euro kickback on passport sales from Nexia BT’s Brian Tonna through Pilatus.

Pilatus held dozens of secret accounts belonging to two top families from Azerbaijan’s ruling elite used to transfer cash into Europe and funnel millions of dollars into investments in luxury property, hotels and businesses.

But Robert Abela never pressured the police to investigate and prosecute Pilatus’ senior officials, including its chairman.

Pilatus embarrassed the entire country.  For years, Joseph Muscat and Keith Schembri protected that bank. Joseph Muscat, Keith Schembri and Yorgen Fenech travelled to Tuscany to attend Ali Sadr’s lavish wedding.

FIAU director Manfred Galdes resigned, complaining that he no longer had the necessary backing to do his job. Sure enough, just weeks later, the FIAU decided not to fine Pilatus for its “serious shortcomings” identified during a joint inspection with the MFSA just months earlier.

Bizarrely and unbelievably, the FIAU informed Ali Sadr that those shortcomings “no longer subsist”.

By 2018, the European Central Bank had stripped Pilatus of its licence following Ali Sadr’s arrest in the United States.

By 2021, Pilatus was fined a record €4.9 million for letting millions of euro flow through Malta unchallenged.  The FIAU identified failures on Pilatus’ part in 97% of customer files it reviewed.  The FIAU found the bank “had exposed itself and the Maltese jurisdiction to egregious money laundering risks that were not mitigated in any manner”.

But what does Robert Abela care about the risks to Malta?  What does he care about the flagrant breaches of anti-money laundering legislation by Joseph Muscat’s and Keith Schembri’s friend.

Robert Abela is only interested in persecuting those courageous souls who risked their own safety to expose the shameful protection of Ali Sadr and his bank.

Never once has Robert Abela urged the police to execute the magistrate’s international arrest warrant for Ali Sadr.  Never once has he called on the police commissioner to implement the Pilatus inquiry recommendations.

Neither has Abela ever pressured the police to track down those responsible for the massive Vitals-Steward fraud.  Abela never demanded that Armin Ernst, another of Joseph Muscat’s friends, be indicted for his part.

Abela never insisted with the police to pursue those who stole millions of our money in the Mozura wind farm scam.  His government hid the Mozura report. Miriam Dalli refused to publish it despite knowing Enemalta paid triple the original price to buy shares in the Montenegro wind farm.

Her excuse was that “the authorities should be given time to investigate”. That was almost three years ago.  Robert Abela didn’t complain about the police delay in investigating and prosecuting the culprits behind the daylight robbery of millions of euro.

Abela isn’t interested. He’s only interested in who leaked the report exposing how Labour’s top brass enabled a money laundering bank to operate in Malta and how Muscat’s chief of staff facilitated the opening of Pilatus branch in London.

Abela is also urging the police to track down the person who leaked a magisterial inquiry over a tragic death at the Wasteserv plant in 2022. He publicly claimed that “it is known within certain circles who leaked the findings”. He only seeks vengeance against those exposing Labour’s scandals.

Abela never urged the police to investigate and prosecute those behind the transfer of hundreds of thousands of dollars to 17 Black from Mario Pullicino, the agent behind the LNG tanker. The 17 Black inquiry reportedly recommended criminal action against Keith Schembri, Konrad Mizzi, Mario Pullicino and Electrogas co-owner Paul Apap Bologna.

But Abela isn’t clamouring for swift police action against them. He’s shown no anger at how the people were robbed of hundreds of millions of euro. He hasn’t demanded justice and restitution of those millions.

Instead Abela keeps making a fool of himself, still hilariously defending Vitals and Steward.  He’s insisting Labour’s hospitals fraud had no impact on our health service.  He told the country there is “absolutely no link” between Mater Dei overcrowding and the Vitals debacle.

Vitals were meant to build a new 450-bed hospital in Gozo with potentially an additional 100 beds.  St Luke’s should have been refurbished with an additional 350 new beds.  Vitals were contracted to add another 320 beds at Karin Grech. That’s an extra 1,200 beds. That’s more than Mater Dei can take.

Which idiot in the country could possibly believe Abela’s claims that another 1,200 hospital beds would make absolutely no difference to the country’s creaking health service while a mere hundred-odd beds at three tiny private hospitals would?

This is who leads our country – a man who viciously pursues those exposing the truth, who works tirelessly to conceal the shocking crimes against the people and who spews the most unbelievably ridiculous nonsense.

Let’s persecute those who leaked a report but leave those who robbed us of hundreds of millions of euro to enjoy them in peace.