Questions sent to the acting CEO of the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA), Michelle Mizzi Buontempo, have remained unanswered. Calamatta Cuschieri Investments Services Limited, a MFSA-licensed firm, has been named by a convicted criminal under oath in court, for dishing him out some €500,000 in cash. She was asked whether the MFSA considers such dodgy transactions as legal and if an investigation into Calamatta Cuschieri’s operations is being carried out.
The sworn testimony hit the headlines and was not refuted by anyone, including Calamatta Cuschieri Investments Services Limited. Executive committee members at MFSA include Christopher Buttigieg and Edwina Licari. Together with Mizzi Buontempo, they get to decide whom to fine or not, whom to investigate or not, and to whom a license is awarded or refused. None of the committee members declare their conflict of interest in the public.
Edwina Licari, known for her close relationship with the alleged mastermind of Daphne Caruana Galizia’s brutal murder, Yorgen Fenech, still enjoys a €100,000 salary at Malta’s financial regulator. A license holder is suing Christopher Buttigieg for alleged misconduct. Following media reports, disgraced Joseph Cuschieri was made to resign as MFSA’s CEO.
The directors of Calamatta Cuschieri, including Alan Cuschieri and Nick Calamatta, did not issue any denial to the sworn testimony of Joseph Difesa. Difesa confirmed in court that he would pick up hundreds of thousands of euros in cash from Calamatta Cuschieri’s offices. Malta’s FIAU, headed by Kenneth Farrugia and Alfred Zammit, is yet to issue a statement about these dodgy transactions.
Sources close to the regulators informed Fintelegram that Calamatta Cuschieri is way too big in Malta to be fined or investigated. The same lawyers used by MFSA in court cases and representations sit on the board of Directors of sister companies of Calamatta Cuschieri.
