Labour would have put the Iranians in touch with its ex-treasurer – heqq, daqxejn natwerkink hux.
Joe Sammit: now what?
“144574″,”3/6/2008 13:33″,”08VALLETTA89″,”Embassy Valletta”,”SECRET//NOFORN”,””,”VZCZCXYZ0254
PP RUEHWEB
DE RUEHVT #0089 0661333
ZNY SSSSS ZZH
P 061333Z MAR 08
FM AMEMBASSY VALLETTA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1415
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC PRIORITY
“,”S E C R E T VALLETTA 000089
SIPDIS
NOFORN
SIPDIS
NEA/IR, ISN, P, EUR, EEB, E
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/06/2018
TAGS: EFIN, ETRD, KNNP, MNUC, PARM, PGOV, PREL, MT
SUBJECT: MALTA: FINANCE MINISTRY CONCERNED AT ATTEMPTS BY
IRANIAN BANKS TO ACCESS EURO PAYMENT SYSTEM
Classified By: DCM Jason Davis, reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).
This is an action request. See para 4.
1. (S) Alan Caruana, Head of Secretariat at the Maltese
Ministry of Finance, contacted DCM late March 5 to express
concern at attempts by two Iranian banks, which he thought
had branches in London and Germany, to ”use Malta’s payment
system, via London.” These were banks that did not have a
branch license in Malta, he said, but were attempting to
”access the payment system of our central bank.”
2. (S) Asked if he could provide greater detail about the
banks and the nature of the attempted activity, Caruana came
back a half hour later with the information that London-based
subsidiaries of ”Persian International” and ”Melli” banks
were attempting to access the ”Euro Payment System” of
Malta’s Central Bank. Maltese banking authorities were not
comfortable with this, and were studying whether it was
possible to just say ”no thank you,” but were concerned that
being fellow EU members of the UK and (as of January of this
year) in the Eurozone would ”make it difficult for us,”
especially since the banks were apparently sanctioned by the
U.S., but not by the UN or the EU.
3. (S) DCM told Caruana he would report this information
back to Washington, which would likely have advice or a
request for Malta. In the meantime, Caruana should urge his
Central Bank colleagues to continue to hold off on allowing
the Iranian banks to access Malta’s euro payment system.
4. (S) Action Request: Post would welcome any guidance we
could give Malta on this matter.
BORDONARO
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Yes, Sir; DCM, Sir. Will take your guidance, Sir. You know best, we know nada, Massa…
X’tahlita meraviljuza ta’ arroganza u injoranza ghandu dal-bniedem.
Self-descriptions should be kept to oneself, Etienne Calleja sive Willywonka.
Is kev the coconut?
[Daphne – No, kev is his real name, which we should respect. He’s married to Sharon Ellul Bonici (no respect there). There’s always a lot of confusion about this because Sharon’s maiden name was Ellul (she’s Andy Ellul’s sister) and she married Kevin Ellul Bonici. The Coconut never uses his own name to write in.]
Funny how no one had anything to say on this one. It must be the the hilariously inept title.
So now we know where our men at the finance ministry get their marching orders on international sanctions. Yup! They report directly to the Deputy Chief of Missions at the American embassy.
‘The baddies are trying to needle our euro payment system via London, Sir, but we fear we might anger our fellow EU members the Brits if we say ‘no thank you’.
What a complete absurdity. It’s as if they live in a bubble and the American DCM is their only outside contact.
It’s called strategic business planning.
Giving due weight to all possible consequences by acknowledging others’ spectrum of confidentiality, thus preempting one’s position.