"Maltese investigators have asked help of the Latvian anti-money laundering office to trace the payments via the shady Latvian bank in the alleged corruption case which, coupled with a murder of a journalist, has shaken the little Mediterranean country, but there is no formal criminal investigation opened and the probe is slow," Re:Baltica said.
Latvian anti-money laundering office looking into transactions linked to Malta’s major corruption scandal. The killed journalist and blogger Daphne Caruana Galizia had extensively reported about the case. Read more: https://t.co/cba7cfqQNu pic.twitter.com/P5ruxLarxP
— Re:Baltica (@rebaltica) May 19, 2018
The outgoing head of the Latvian Office for Prevention of Laundering of Proceeds Derived from Criminal Activity (Control Department, KD), Viesturs Burkāns, confirmed to Re:Baltica that his Maltese counterparts, FIAU, requested the assistance in February, 2018, regarding transfers made via Latvian ABLV bank.
Burkāns refused to disclose more information regarding the request, citing the restrictions of the law, but said that after an initial answer was given, the probe in Latvia continues. According to information obtained by Re:Baltica, not only Maltese investigators, but also ABLV itself reported the transactions from the Mayor Trans company’s account as suspicious, but it is not known when and what prompted it. ABLV refused to comment, quoting the clients’ secrecy right.
According to the Times of Malta, local investigators believe that the two payments of USD 1.4 million in November 2015 which came from Seychelles registered company with account in ABLV to various shell companies were allegedly meant to line the pockets of high-ranking Maltese politicians and their associates. The killed journalist and blogger Daphne Caruana Galizia had extensively reported about the case.
In April, LSM also reported on the web of connections that link Latvia's non-resident banking sector to yet another international scandal which also involves Azeri national Rufat Baratzada.
According to a draft of Malta’s FIAU report seen by Re:Baltica, US anti-money laundering authorities had identified transactions from a company called Mayor Trans to Dubai-registered company 17 Black Limited as possible “shell company activity, suspicious wire transfers and money laundering”. 17 Black Limited has been linked to the offshores to the power players in the Maltese politics: head of prime minister’s office Keith Schembri and tourism minister Konrad Mizzi.
As reported by LSM, Burkāns is on the verge of being replaced by Ilze Znotiņa after twenty years in the job.
