Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and his Cheif of Staff Keith Schembri have confirmed having attended the wedding of Pilatus Chairman and Owner Sayed Ali Sadr Hasheminejad in 2015. The latter was arrested last week on charges that he evaded US economic sanctions and money laundering.

According to a report published this morning by The Times of Malta, Schembri was "one of the few guests at a small wedding" of Hasheminejad held in Italy in 2015.

Confirming his attendance to the newspaper, Schembri said "yes, I was invited and attended the wedding together with many other Maltese and foreigners.. Incidentally, I recall being seated shoulder to shoulder with a sitting director of the Allied Group, which publishes your newspaper."

Later in the day, Malta Today published a report confirming the attendance of the Prime Minister, in which a spokesperson for Muscat said "They attended the wedding which they combined with a personal holiday in Italy."

Malta Today then claimed that Allied Newspapers director Austin Bencini was "another guest at the wedding.. whose wife Juanita Bencini is President of the Institute of Financial Services Practitioners and a consultant at KPMG, the auditors of Pilatus Bank". 

In a statement, Bencini said he was at the wedding in his private capacity. “With reference to the first statement issued by the Prime Minister’s chief of staff, Keith Schembri, indicating that a director of Allied Newspapers Limited was also present at the wedding of Seyed Ali Sadr Hasheminejad, I wish to clarify that my presence at the wedding in 2015 was in my private capacity and that I have today explained the circumstances of my presence to my colleagues on the board of directors who have accepted my statement and reiterated their confidence in me.”