FBI agents visiting Malta in Pilatus Bank probe

Agents from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation are expected in Malta as part of an ongoing investigation into the former chairman of Pilatus Bank.  Sources said FBI experts had already been in touch with several authorities in Malta to facilitate their work here. Seyed Ali Sadr Hasheminejad, the Iranian-born banker behind the beleaguered Ta’ Xbiex-based bank, is facing up to 125 years in jail in connection with charges that include money laundering and evading US sanctions on Iran. He was arrested on Monday in the US where he is known to reside. The sources said the US investigators were being coy about the nature of their visit to Malta, which suggested they might not be willing to give away too much, not even to the Maltese authorities. It could even be a matter of trust, they noted. Sources close to senior investigators in Malta said they were uncertain what the FBI agents hoped to learn from Malta but they believed this was an exercise in “joining dots”. A visit to Pilatus Bank’s offices in Ta’ Xbiex was very likely, the sources said, adding that the FBI had reached out to the Malta Financial Services Authority, the police and Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit, among...