HSBC Bank started inquiry into two “fraudulent” documents over the weekend
HSBC Bank Malta plc has made no official statement about the matter of apparently fraudulent documents reported here. Informed sources, however, confirmed today that the bank began its inquiry immediately the report was published on this website, and that “the matter has been escalated to regional director level”.
The story broke last Friday evening, after I uploaded two HSBC ‘information reports’ pertaining to the Prime Minister’s chief of staff, Keith Schembri, and his managing director at Kasco Ltd, Malcolm Scerri. These were character references addressed to Brian Tonna’s company, BTI Management Ltd, which Tonna then used to secure changes to the companies which these two individuals already held secretly in the British Virgin Islands.
Minutes after I uploaded PDFs of the bank documents, current employees of HSBC Bank Malta and former senior staff contacted me privately to point out that the documents, both purportedly issued by HSBC’s Attard branch, are dated May 2013 – but that branch had closed in February the year before. They also said that in May 2013, the bank had already ceased issuing information reports like those from individual branches, but had centralised them at the main office.
One former senior executive told me: “Those documents are clearly forged.” When the story broke, the bank’s executive offices were already closed for the weekend, and press questions this morning were directed to the bank’s public relations handlers, BPC International, with the sole response given being that the bank does not give information about clients.
A source at senior level, however, confirmed that the inquiry began at once and that it is being taken very seriously.
Forging bank documents is a crime. Forgery by a member of a warrant-holding profession can lead to the loss of that warrant, and when forgery is committed by a public officer, it can lead to interdiction.
There will be no prosecution, however, unless the bank makes a formal report to the police.
