Pilatus Bank whistleblower Maria Efimova has said in a tweet that she has been threatened, and is going to file a report with the Greek police.

She referred to a MaltaToday article, stating that the bank’s former chairman, Seyed Ali Sadr Hasheminejad, has been released on bail in the USA.

The conditions which Hasheminejad, whom the US government dubbed a flight risk, was given bail are not yet known.

Ali Sadr, an Iranian banker, was detained in the USA last March and accused of circumventing US sanctions on Iran when he brokered a development deal for thousands of housing units in Venezuela. He is accused of having used American and Swiss banking systems to effect transactions $115 million, and using complicated structures to conceal that the money was ultimately to be deposited in Iran.

He was also accused of money laundering and defrauding the United States. Sadr has been detained in a Manhattan jail since March. His first request for bail was denied on the grounds that his significant international connections and vast wealth render him to be a flight risk.

Efimova, in her tweet, said: “Several hours he is out of jail and threats have already started. Going to file a report with Greek police right now.” Efimova was one of Daphne Caruana Galizia’s sources on Pilatus Bank. She had alleged to the murdered journalist that Michelle Muscat, the prime minister’s wife, was the ultimate beneficial owner of Egrant. The allegation was that money was transferred through Pilatus Bank. Efimova had testified in a magisterial inquiry on the Egrant allegations. On 9 May a news article read that “Efimova has had her Twitter account disabled,” however now the account still seems to be in use.

This is not the first time Efimova has mentioned threats, and one of the reasons she had fled Malta was that her father who was in Russia was intimidated by Russian detectives hired by someone in Malta.

Pilatus bank, locally, is at the centre of a number of scandals, and is also the subject of a number of magisterial inquiries. Since Ali Sadr’s arrest, the MFSA has placed several restrictions of the bank and appointed a chairman of their own.