[WATCH] Pilatus CEO defends bank's 'robust compliance system'

Hamidreza Ghanbari appears before magisterial inquiry

The CEO of Pilatus Bank, Hamidreza Ghanbari, has said that the events that took place on Thursday, hours before Prime Minister Joseph Muscat ordered the Egrant magisterial inquiry, could have been handled much better.  

The inquiry was ordered by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat late on Thursday night after the bank’s chairman Seyed Ali Sadr Hasheminejad was filmed leaving the bank carrying two suitcases, together with the bank’s risk manager Antoinella Gauci.

The footage fuelled speculation that crucial documents may have been removed from the bank before the arrival of the police.

“I spoke with the Chairman and Mr Seyed believes the situation could have been handled much better,” said Ghanbari.

“In order to clarify, we have released a nine-hour footage of our CCTV that clearly shows what happened inside the bank while the chairman was in the bank with the luggage. So we hope that will clarify things.”

Ghanbari was speaking as he emerged from court, after another long day in court with inquiring magistrate Aaron Bugeja.

The CEO spent roughly two hours with the magistrate in the morning before the inquiry broke off for a break. Later in the afternoon Bugeja heard testimony from Antoinella Gauci’s, the bank’s risk manager, and COO Louis Felipe Rivera – both were with the magistrate for roughly an hour.

“We adhere to the highest regulatory and corporate governance standards, and we are fully engaged in complying with the laws and regulations both internationally and at the local level,” he said, adding that the bank was cooperating fully with the inquiry and that the it looked forward to the result.

“We believe it will show we have done absolutely nothing wrong and that it will ensure the bank's reputation is intact,” he continued, stressing that the bank would never do anything to put its clients “at risk”.

“Everything has been given to the authorities and we remain open to any questions and any enquiries to make sure that the whole issue is resolved,” he said.

Asked to comment on allegations of money laundering and about reports of an FIAU investigation into the bank’s practices, Ghanbari said that the bank had a “very robust compliance and control system” and that this was reflected in its “audited reports”.

“What we implement in terms of ongoing monitoring, in terms of seeing the transactions, is something unique that retail banks can’t apply. Since we are a private bank we have the ability to see every single transaction and apply monitoring to that which is completely unique in Mallta,” he argued.

On investigations into the bank’s dealings by local authorities, Ghanbari said that as the CEO of a “regulated credit institution”, he was legally constrained from commenting.

“We cannot confirm any inspection by any regulatory bodies,” he said. “For a comment about inspections I urge you to go to the regulatory bodies.”