UPDATED WITH BANK OF VALLETTA REPLY: Libya Oil executives in Malta
timesofmalta.com has just reported that Libyan residents in Malta have told its newsroom of the presence in Malta of ‘Yahya Ibraham Gaddafi, a senior official of a Libyan state-owned oil company’, who they say is staying at the Hilton after having arrived yesterday.
They told The Times that they are planning to protest about this, because they claim that he is in Malta to “secure oil shipments to Libya from private sources”.
Oddly enough, it is the planned protest that made the timesofmalta.com headline, and not the real story, which is that Libya Oil executives are in Malta and suspected of trying to act to circumvent UN sanctions.
I had the same information yesterday, from Libyan friends, one of whom actually saw and recognised two Libya Oil executives, Ibrahim Sol (my spelling might be incorrect here) and Yahya Ibrahim Yahya Gaddafi at Bank of Valletta’s head office, the day before yesterday.
My Libyan contact suspected the obvious – an attempt at circumventing sanctions – but it does not follow that Bank of Valletta will comply or is receptive to these overtures. It has obligations in strict compliance to sanctions. I have asked the bank for clarification and will upload its reply immediately I receive it.
Libya Oil is an affiliated company of the Libyan Investment Authority.
UPDATE:- Bank of Valletta has replied:
“The bank cannot discuss any such matters. It cannot even answer questions as to who is or who is not its client. Please be assured that Bank of Valletta has always abided and will always abide by sanctions, rules and regulations and conducts itself in strict accordance with them.”
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Go get them D. Everyone else is fast asleep, or maybe that should read ”conveniently asleep”.
I don’t think we should worry, you have been saying for the last couple of week ,that all Libyan assets are frozen, Or are they not?
“The bank cannot discuss any such matters. It cannot even answer questions as to who is or who is not its client. Please be assured that Bank of Valletta has always abided and will always abide by sanctions, rules and regulations and conducts itself in strict accordance with them.”
If they were innocent they would have said so. That answer is a definite Yes.
I agree with you I am positive that we have a banking sector that we should all be proud of. But I am not so sure of some of the other buisness sectors when it comes to adhering to sanctions, we have had some experiences in the past and I am afraid we will have them again. Time will tell.
I actually meant that they are not innocent. We have a banking sector whose CEOs should be proud, because it makes huge profits. As for the rest, I don’t trust the bankers one bit. You can see it in their faces.
Remember that old chestnut? If a banker lends you an umbrella, he takes it away as soon as it starts raining.
Ever heard of professional secrecy?
The bank is under an obligation to abide by the sanctions and does not need you or anyone else to tell it what to do.
The GRTU accuses the banks of slaughtering its members and Vince Farrugia says that if Gaddafi wins “as now seems likely”, then there is a silver lining for Malta. Take a deep breath before reading this.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110317/local/grtu-calls-on-government-to-guarantee-libya-business-loans
Ir-riskji haduhom huma, l-profitti haduhom huma… u jridu lilna, permezz tat-taxxi, naghmlulhom tajjeb.
Tiskanta, f’dal-pajjiz anke l-businessmen socjalisti.
U ovvja li l-gvern se jaccedi ghat-talba taghhom. Ghax kif issemmi “bizniss”, jidhol il-patriottizmu ghami li qered lil dan il-pajjiz.
Bank accounts and transactions should be checked immediately by the competent or not so competent authorities.
No wonder that any bank deposits by the Gaddafi family in Malta are still being totted up and have not been divulged. The richer countries in the rest of the world do not seem to suffer from the same handicap.
OTTAWA and TORONTO — Canadian banks said Monday they will “fully” abide by federal government orders that prohibit financial transactions between domestic institutions and Libya’s Gaddafi regime.
Ottawa implemented additional measures sanctions against Libya, on top of what the United Nations proposed, because it became aware of dealings between Canadian banks and Libya’s leadership, headed by Muammar Gaddafi.
“We are aware of specific financial dealings of the Libyan regime in financial institutions in Canada, and the actions of our government have blocked those,” Mr. Baird told reporters on Parliament Hill as he discussed sanctions announced Sunday night by Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
http://www.financialpost.com/Gaddafi+money…banks/4360007/story.html
Yahya Ibrahim Yahya Gaddafi is said to be in Malta to try to move money around to pay for mercenaries. This article from The New York Times, about frozen assets and sanctions, is good and informative.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/10/world/africa/10qaddafi.html?scp=3&sq=Libya%20Mali%20oil&st=cse
Bank of Valletta can and is able to say that someone is NOT their client.
They didn’t. That means he is.
[Daphne – Actually, Bank of Valletta made a point of specifying that their refusal to speak is blanket: in other words, no yes or no, no references to people, nothing. It’s bank policy.]
The anti-Gaddafi community in Malta takes action:
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110317/local/libyans-suspect-oil-shipment-sent-to-libya-from-malta
Does the BOV have someone working for them by the name of Sammut?
Seems to me that the BOV’s ‘client secrecy’ policy was written by him.