Full right of reply:
On October 1st, 2021 the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit (FIAU) had informed Phoenix Payment Limited (the Company) that it has imposed an administrative penalty on the Company for what the FIAU considered as breaches in certain AML/CFT obligations.
The findings were noted by the FIAU during an inspection carried out in October 2020. While the findings were of an administrative nature, they did not relate to suspicions or evidence of money laundering. The Company will be appealing against this decision in terms of A1.3 of the Implementing Procedures Part I, within 20 days from the 1st of October 2021. The Company has made formal representations with the FIAU on the 7th of May 2021 explaining and reiterating that the Company fully committed to combatting money laundering, the funding of terrorism and other financial crime.
On the 7th of May 2021 the Company outlined to the FIAU a number of material disagreements with the apparent findings of the FIAU. These included a number of instances where the FIAU has omitted to take into consideration all of the information, documentation and other measures presented by the Company to the FIAU during the Compliance Review.
The Company raised these concerns with the FIAU, however it appears that these have been disregarded by the FIAU. The Company remains concerned by the FIAU's systematic nature of these serious omissions which appear unjustified, arbitrary and suggest that key aspects of the Company's AML/CFT framework have been misunderstood.
The Company has endeavored to clarify these misconceptions of the FIAU however, with great disappointment, the FIAU has failed, once again to understand the way the Company operates and how its AML/CFT compliance framework is implemented in line with the applicable AML/CFT Rules and Regulations.
Furthermore, of greater concern, not only to the Company but to the financial services industry as a whole, it is extremely worrying that the body conducting the investigations, i.e. the FIAU, is the same body that has issued these gargantuan administrative penalties, which prejudice the Right of Fair Hearing embedded in the Constitution of Malta and the European Convention of Human Rights.
In this regard the Company has no alternative but to appeal the FIAU's decision and also seek redress constitutionally. The Company reaffirms its policy of zero-tolerance even in cases that suggest the slightest hint of improper conduct and continues to rely on the integrity, professionalism and dedication of its staff members.