The Financial Intelligence and Analysis Unit is precluded by law from commenting on whether it is investigating the Maltese link in the Russian Laundromat scandal, which saw around €3 million in allegedly laundered Russian funds having been transferred to Malta.
Four Maltese companies received close to USD3 million in laundered Russian funds according to research published by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project last month.
The transfer of the funds all took place between August 2013 and January 2014. The largest share of laundered funds went to a firm named ASAP Equipment Limited, which received USD2,496,515. Smaller amounts were received by: Corinaro Trading Ltd (USD184,288), La Vida Enterprises Ltd (USD147,232) and F.I.T. Ltd (USD135,240).
All four companies concerned appear to be held by Maltese fiduciary firms. Maltese fiduciary firms and their practice of holding companies on behalf of Ultimate Beneficiary Owners, the names of whom the firms are not obliged to disclose, have been embroiled in several scandals over recent years – from the Panama Papers to Offshore Leaks to the 'Ndrangheta mafia remote gaming scandal.
When asked whether it was investigating the case, FIAU Deputy Director Alfred Zammit made it clear that this newspaper would not be receiving any answers and that if any FIAU official were to provide information they would be liable to a prison sentence.
In reply to our questions, Mr Zammit said, “Please be advised that the FIAU is precluded by law from providing any such information. Articles 33 and 34 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, in fact, not only prohibit such disclosure but establish that it is a criminal offence punishable with imprisonment for an official of the FIAU to disclose such information.”
A group of anti-corruption reporters, who in 2014 first exposed the criminal scheme to move large sums of money out of Russia, said they uncovered the details about how the system worked, including the transfer of USD21 billion through major banks.
The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project said that reporters from the group and the Novaya Gazeta newspaper in Moscow obtained bank records showing that funds were transferred worldwide via 112 bank accounts in Eastern Europe.
Using company records, the investigative reporters said they tracked some clients, many rich and powerful Russians who made fortunes from dealing with the Russian state, including a businessman in the inner circle of Russian President Vladimir Putin and IT distributors in Russia, including for Apple and Samsung.