Maria Efimova’s lawyer pours cold water on political asylum claims

Alexandros Papastergiopoulous, the lawyer representing Maria Efimova, has dismissed claims that the former Pilatus Bank employee intends to apply for political asylum in Greece.

The Russian national, who is the subject of at least two European arrest warrants, surrendered to the police in Greece last Monday. The warrants were issued by the Maltese Courts after she repeatedly failed to turn up in court in Malta.

On Thursday, a group of 36 MEPs sent an open letter to the Greek government asking it to grant Efimova and her family asylum, and to ensure they are not returned to Malta.

Last year, the former bank employee was named as one of the main sources behind claims made by the late Daphne Caruana Galizia that Michelle Muscat, wife of the Prime Minister, owns the Panamanian company Egrant. It was alleged that Egrant held an account at Pilatus Bank.

Caruana Galizia claimed that through Egrant, Michelle Muscat had received $1 million from a company owned by Leyla Aliyeva, daughter of Ilham Aliyev, the president of Azerbaijan.

Efimova is also the subject of at least two ongoing criminal cases in Malta, having been accused of defrauding Pilatus Bank in one case, and of making false accusations against Superintendent Denis Theuma and inspectors Jonathan Ferris and Lara Butters in another.

“It doesn’t seem that there will be grounds for political asylum, especially since Malta is an EU member state,” Papastergiopoulous told MaltaToday.

The possibility of Efimova being granted political asylum stemmed mainly from media reports, he added.

Papastergiopoulous explained that challenging the grounds the European arrest warrant was issued on would be more realistic.

“At the moment we are awaiting the arrival of all the documents and material on the case from Malta because at this stage all we have is the notification from Europol,” he said, adding that once the case file was in hand, the accusations against Efimova would be analysed from a Greek law perspective.

According to her lawyer, there was a 30-day window within which the file had to be sent, with a decision on her case expected roughly within a month of its arrival. 

He went on to say that Efimova would be fighting her extradition to Malta because she feared for her safety and that she would not be granted a fair trial.

As to the grounds upon which the arrest warrant would be challenged, Papastergiopoulous said he did not yet have a clear strategy since he had not seen all the relevant documents, but said he was convinced a strong case could be made, mainly since he believes the charges against Efimova did not merit a European arrest warrant being issued.

Efimova only wanted for testimony on pre-Egrant cases

A senior police official who spoke to MaltaToday alleged that the European arrest warrants had nothing to do with the Caruana Galizia claims. However, the warrants were issued after the Egrant story broke last year, prompting many, including Efimova herself, to believe that they were issued as a means of intimidation.

“The warrant was issued after she failed to turn up in court to give testimony in cases which pre-dated the Egrant allegations,” said the source, adding that warrants could be issued by any judicial authority.

The source added that as an EU member state Greece could not refuse to extradite Efimova.

“The warrant is for her to be brought to testify. Once she does so, she is free to go back to Greece.”

Anti-corruption prosecutor wants information on Pilatus Bank

Asked whether he had been contacted by the Greece’s corruption prosecutor for Efimova to testify, Papastergiopoulous confirmed that the prosecutor had requested a meeting to determine whether Efimova had any information on corruption or illegalities relating to Greece.

“She [the prosecutor] wants to know whether Efimova has any documents from the bank showing corruption that could be linked to Greece,” he said.

Papastergiopoulous confirmed that the prosecutor had no jurisdiction to investigate crimes or allegations related to Maltese affairs.

Efimova grateful for solidarity

Greek MEP Stelios Kouloglou, who has been in contact with Efimova over the last two months, said that Efimova was in good health, and being treated very well in prison.

Speaking to MaltaToday after visiting Efimova in prison, Kouloglou said he had met with Efimova and the director of the prison where she was incarcerated, during which he asked him to thank “everybody” for their solidarity, especially Caruana Galizia’s sons.

Asked about claims that the case was on Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’ desk, and that she was likely to be granted asylum, he too said it was unlikely that such a request would be entertained.

He said he could not state whether Tsipras had taken an interest in the case, but stressed that Greece had also “taken an interest in fighting corruption”.