US prosecutors justify Malta link in Sadr ‘criminal scheme’

Prosecutors in the United States have hit back at claims that a reference to Seyed Ali Sadr Hashemenijad’s link to Malta made in the criminal case built against him forms part of a misleading and irrelevant narrative. Lawyers for the former Pilatus Bank chairman last month asked the US courts to dismiss the “vague and overbroad allegations” against him. Mr Sadr, whose wedding guests in 2015 included Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and his top aide Keith Schembri, was last year charged with money-laundering and sanction busting by US prosecutors. Read: US prosecutors gained warrant to search Sadr e-mails in 2014 He stands accused of having disguised the origins of $115 million worth of transfers for an Iranian-Venezuelan housing project, in violation of US sanctions against Iran. Dr Muscat has insisted the charges against him have no link to Malta. Apart from the oblique references to Mr Hashemenijad’s role in Malta, no direct evidence has emerged from prosecutors linking Pilatus Bank or Malta to the case. Pilatus Bank’s licence was formally withdrawn by the European Central Bank in November 2018. As part of his motion to dismiss the charges against him, Mr Hashemenijad’s lawyers...