John Dalli’s client, the international fraudster Mary Swan/Lady Bird/Nina Petros/Suzara (real name, Emma Corbin) can buy another passport and alias through the good offices of the Labour government, for EUR650,000, and we will never know
Published:
October 20, 2013 at 6:29pm
This is the false The Philippines passport which John Dalli’s client, Mary Swan aka Lady Bird, whose real name is Emma Corbin, a US citizen, used to enter Thailand some years ago.
She was arrested and jailed, but somebody bailed her out, following which she came to Malta by private plane.
Mary Swan aka Lady Bird (who made the news in Cyprus in the 1990s as the fraudster Nina Petros) is a client of John Dalli’s company. She is the client he flew to the Bahamas to meet twice in the summer of last year, while he was EU Commissioner.
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The woman in the picture really is the same one who went by the alias Nina Petros in Cyprus, while she is known in Israel as Emma.
The Bishop of Limassol’s notorious dealings with “Nina Petros” made headlines for months in the Cypriot media. Reporters who work for a Cypriot newspaper have said that the woman pictured here is the same person.
When Nina Petros was detained for questioning in Switzerland, an Israeli newspaper report on the arrest referred to Emma Corbin.
Mary Swan may already be in possession of a Maltese passport. Now she will have the opportunity to buy a genuine one with the suitcases of cash she launders on behalf of Eastern European and Central Asian racketeers.
She might also have an Azeri passport, maybe a genuine one, who knows?
I am dying to see Godfrey Grima on Super One defending this ‘cash and carry’ passport scheme. As you rightly pointed out, in time, there are going to be losers here and they are the ordinary Maltese passport holders.
Not Just Mary Swan, but all the other benevolent Bahamas account holders collecting money for good causes in Africa.
And let us not forget all the people smugglers who must be awash with money and in search of a new identity after exploiting the plight of those oppressed in their own country.
http://www.hri.org/news/cyprus/cmpress/1998/98-10-16.cmpress.html
Coming to think of it, what happens to someone’s original citizenship when a Maltese one is bought?
There is some, but very little, information about Emma Corbin on the internet. Incidentally, that name is always mentioned in the context of words like “scam” or “fraud.”
For instance, Emma Corbin gets a tiny but useful reference in a post on Offshore Alert, here, a few lines from the top:
http://www.offshorealert.com/forums.aspx?g=posts&t=39189
“”The Fountain Pen Conspiracy” by, Jonathan Kwitny [Pub. Alfred A. Knopt Inc. 1973 (1979 4th Ed.)] on scam artists Clifford Dixon Noe, his brother Paul Howe Noe, et al.; or,
“The Myth Of Prime Bank Investment Scams” by, Prof. James E. Byrne
One may also look beyond those books to the story surrounding the infamous Farhat Tabbah (“Farih”) of SITEA INTERNATIONAL S.A. and the associated scams involving Emma Corbin, et al.
SL”
It seems that whoever posted the comment tied together Emma Corbin with Farhat Tabbah and SITEA INTERNATIONAL S.A..
Further internet searches on those names reveals as follows:
I am setting this out in 5 separate sub-comments.
1. SITEA INTERNATIONAL S.A.
It exists, and it has an internet website, here:
http://sitea-international.com/#top01-group.profile/group-profile.html
WOW. It is “…the global project management arm of an internationally active and hugely diversified Group of companies whose origins can be traced back through decades of commercial expertise. During the last century, the principals of the Group transformed their interests into a trans-regional network of companies and business relationships that embraced the entire Middle East.”
I don’t know why, but I don’t find that the website reflects such a global, hugely diversified business.
There are a lot of interesting claims on that website.
For instance, under “Contact Us,” it adds that “Expansion further afield commenced in earnest at the end of World War II and today SITEA International SA has the international backing of a Group of companies, associate companies and representatives in some 23 countries in Europe, North and South America, Africa and Asia. ”
Quite impressive. A group that is so well established in Europe and the rest of the globe, but I had never heard about it.
Under “Group Profile,” it says “Down the years and throughout the huge expansion that the Group has witnessed, specifically in the past thirty years, we have maintained the most important aspect of our strength. We are still very much an independent and a private company.”
Independent and private, right? Those private shareholders must have a lot of cash to finance and take the risks of the “arm” and body of such a huge and diversified group.
And its main businesses? Power generation and distribution, construction and engineering, oil and gas, aviation and trading. Enough said.
So diversified that it reminds me of a certain company by the name of Tyre Limited. That company too was very diversified, with its main objective to “act as a brokerage agent in the sale/purchase transaction of aircrafts, heavy machinery and other resources”.
SITEA INTERNATIONAL S.A. even claims that it carries out maintenance on Siemens turbines. Cool. Perhaps Joseph Muscat and Konrad Mizzi should consider contacting SITEA INTERNATIONAL S.A. for a cheap quote now that Siemens is building a 200MW gas plant in Delimara.
A very ambiguous website about “a global arm” of “a hugely diversified Group of companies,” without any information about its leaders and with no proper physical contact information, except for a couple of phone numbers in the UK and some email addresses.
3. Emma Corbin and SITEA INTERNATIONAL S.A.
Other than the connection made in the first link above, none of the other websites above shows any mention of Emma Corbin. But if Emma Corbin was in the Bahamas with the former EU Commissioner, and the discussions in that villa revolved around energy projects as claimed by Barry Connor, then a connection between Emma Corbin and SITEA INTERNATIONAL SA and the other two companies is difficult to rebut.
4. Farhat Tabbah and the Kazakhstan commissions
The name of Farhat Tabbah is mentioned on the internet in the context of a legal suit he filed in 1997 in connection with alleged loss of commissions on oil deals between Kazakhstan and Iran, involving Mobil Corporation. It is not clear if this is the same person mentioned on Offshore Alert, but the Soviet and oil connections as well as illegal activities and fraud are strong indicators.
The case was reported on in The New Yorker of 9 July 2001, as per link below.
http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2001/07/09/010709fa_fact_hersh
The full article is available to subscribers, but detailed excerpts are available here:
http://whatreallyhappened.com/WRHARTICLES/mobil.html
The case involved former Soviet countries including Russia and Kazakhstan.
5. SITEA INTERNATIONAL S.A. and Panama
One company with the name of SITEA INTERNATIONAL S.A. is registered in Panama.
http://www.manta.com/ic/mv3lynx/pa/sitea-international-sa
Once again, if this is the company connected to Emma Corbin, enough said.
6. Emma Corbin and the case involving an Israeli government Minister
The name of Emma Corbin featured in a serious bribery case in 2002 which resulted in the resignation and jailing of Arye Deri – who was leader of the Shas Party and Minister of the government of Israel at the time.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/state-witness-deri-s-men-tried-to-trap-me-1.24089
It is interesting to note that Ya’akov (is that a Soviet name?) Shmulevitz, who was a “business partner” with Emma Corbin and a State’s witness in the Deri case, was alleging an “entrapment.”
Emma Corbin is not implicated in the wrong doing committed by Deri here. However, Emma Corbin and Shmulevitz were “investigated for alleged fraud” after arrest in Switzerland.
J. Dalli, BA iccelebra gheluq is-sena minn meta hammar wicc Malta bit-tkeccija sommarja tieghu minn Kummissarju Ewropew b’din id-dikjarazzjoni:
“Jien Nazzjonalist. Jien nemmen fid-demokrazija vera!”
Mur obsor, eh! Anke Joseph Muscat, u jekk nigu f’dan is-Sirja, ic-Cina u sahansitra l-Korea ta’ Fuq, kollha jghidu li huma demokratici!
L-istqarrija ta’ Dalli, fil-kuntest ta’ dak li ghamel u li qed jaghmel, hija ezempju haj tal-ghajta ta’ Joseph Muscat qabel l-elezzjoni: “Tista’ ma taqbilx maghna u xorta tista’ tahdem maghna.”
Issa Dalli m’hux wiehed li jitfa’ l-kliem bl-addocc. Ma naghmlux mod li qed jitfa’ l-lixka minn issa, f’dan il-mument difficli ghall-PN, bit-tama li jirbah it-tigrija ghall-leadership?
Tassew li ghamel wiccu bhaz-znied dar-ragel. Kif ma jisthix jidher barra minn daru wara li ismu deher imwahhal ma’ numru ta’ skandli (Daewoo, kuntrabandu, il-Libja, Snus, l-opra filantropika fl-Afrika immaniggjata mill-Bahamas, ecc)
Minflok jghid lil Barroso minn fuq il-gazzetti Maltin biex jispjega x’mar jaghmel ma’ negozjanti tal-vapuri mhux ahjar jghidilna l-verita’ dwar iz-zewg mawriet tieghu il-Bahamas meta kien ghadu Kummissarju?
U jekk il-memorja tieghu ma twassalx sa dak iz-zmien, jista’ almenu jaghtina update dwar x’titjib ghamel jew (almenu) bi hsiebu jaghmel fl-isptar Mater Dei u fil-qasam tas-sahha in generali?
Insomma, bejn il-Bahamas u n-Nevada u St Kitts, min ilumna li nassocjaw l-isem ta’ J Dalli BA, bil-konnessjoni tieghu ma’ Mary Swan/Lady Bird/Nina Petros/Emma Corbin, ma’ dak tal-frodista, ibblacklistjat mill-World Bank, Shiv Nair?
“Tista’ tkun … ??? imma xorta tista’ tahdem maghna.”