Bank of Valletta, through its CEO has written to Italian financial newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore with regards to a story carried on its 30 March edition.

The story was later carried on both this paper and The Malta Business Weekly.

 The bank wrote: “We write with reference to the article that the Sole24Ore published in the front pages of the section "Finanza & Mercati", an article entitled “Crack Deiulemar, a Malta un tesoretto da 360 milioni “, penned by Fabio Pavesi.

“We regret to note the manner in which the author Fabio Pavesi did not deem it necessary to ask for Bank of Valletta’s feedback prior to publishing an article of such serious content.

“Had this taken place, Dr Pavesi could have verified that no withdrawals were effected from the trusts mentioned neither during 2013, nor in any other period.

“There is also no reference to where such figures – once again erroneous – could have been obtained. He would have learnt that BOV never opposed the seizure of the shares held in trust but it merely made representations, in any event extra-judicially, about the necessity to also abide by Maltese law with respect to the termination of the trusts. 

“BOV will cooperate with the Italian authorities, in full respect of both Italian and Maltese laws.

“We trust that in the future a journal of the calibre of Sole24Ore would commit itself to verify the authenticity of the news before publishing it.

“In this regard, you might wish to note that Mr xxxxx Contact Number xxx is available to provide you with any relevant information that the bank can legally disclose on such a highly complex case and which is very important for BOV.”