A wave of court cases has been filed in Malta’s courts against the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit (FIAU), headed by Kenneth Farrugia. The regulator is under harsh criticism for acting late or not acting at all against the big fish while being too strong with the weak. The FIAU dished out a €94,868 fine against N Trust Limited earlier this year. N Trust Limited has appealed the fine and sued the FIAU for allegedly acting as judge, jury, and prosecutor, which would violate constitutional and human rights.
The FIAU Case
According to N Trust Limited, the FIAU’s procedure does not allow a fair hearing. FIAU’s meetings which lead to fines, are held behind closed doors on unannounced dates, with the subject person or company not present. The FIAU officials are then dishing out the fines without making their potential conflicts of interest public.
This is not the first time the FIAU has received court trouble over its penalties. Just recently, FinTelegram reported on the FIAU‘s unlawful punishment of MFSA-regulated CCFX.
The Criticized Maltese FIAU
Maltese media have harshly criticized the FIAU’s officials over the past months, but the regulator has thus far failed to take the necessary steps. Alfred Zammit, the official who signed a clean bill of health to Pilatus Bank, has criticized a whistleblower as a “terrible manager” rather than taking the necessary steps to award and defend him against critics.
According to her LinkedIn profile, the former compliance officer of MFSA-regulated XNT (report here), Kristina Arbociute (pictured left), currently is the Manager of Supervision at FIAU.
Rudolf Muscat has so far failed to explain his non-action on cases like that of the MFSA-regulated Russian crypto company Staern Limited (report here).
About N Trust
N Trust is authorized by the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) as a fiduciary, trustee, or co-trustee according to Article 43(3) of the Trusts and Trustees Act. The directors are Antoine Naudi, Claire Mizzi, and Kathleen Mizzi. The shareholders are Antoine Naudi and Kathleen Mizzi, the founding partners of the Maltese law firm Naudi Mizzi & Associates Advocates (https://naudimizzi.com)., of which N Trust Limited is an affiliated business.
The company’s core business is incorporating and administering corporate structures and providing fiduciary services to residents and non-residents. Corporate structures play a vital role in international tax and estate planning, especially in the EU offshore hub Malta. N Trust markets itself as a wealth of knowledge and experience to address its clients’ individual needs.
Naudi Mizzi and his partners should be perfectly familiar with Maltese law. In this respect, we assume that the lawsuit against the FIAU has appropriate merits and can be won.
