The Chairman of Henley and Partners Christain Kalin will be named in the US trial against Pilatus Bank owner and chairman Ali Sadr Hasheminajad, Lovin Malta can reveal.

Official court documents have listed Christian Kalin among the people who will be mentioned during the trial.

Sadr was arrested in the US in March 2018 and charged with money laundering and breaching US sanctions against Iran by funnelling more than US$115 million into the US financial system.

He is alleged to have violated US sanction by routing payments from a Venezuelan state-owned energy company through banks in the United States to the Swiss accounts of entities owned by Sadr and his family

Henley and Partners were the ones who obtained a St Kitts & Nevis passport for Sadr in 2014, roughly the same period when Pilatus Bank set up shop in Malta.

Sadr is believed to have used the passport to acquire two shell companies, which were used to help funnel the money from a Venezuelan housing project. The funds moved from the companies to other Iranian nationals and entities.

Pilatus Bank and Sadr first entered the Maltese spotlight after journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia accused the bank of several crimes including money laundering, kickbacks to Maltese politicians, and massive transfers to members of the Azeri ruling elite.

Sadr hurriedly leaving Pilatus Bank carrying suitcases the same night the Egrant story broke will live long in memory. However, the inquiry into the case dismissed any wrongdoing.

The Iranian national was an exponent of SLAPP lawsuits, starting libel proceedings against Caruana Galizia in Arizona, to the tune of $40 million, which he dropped shortly after she was assassinated.

Henley and Partners have also engaged in SLAPP. Daphne Caruana Galizia had published an email exchange between former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, his chief of staff Keith Schembri, Education Minister Owen Bonnici, the CEO of Malta’s sale of citizenship scheme Jonathan Cardona – and Kalin – discussing the issue with regard the journalist.

Henley and Partners has strong links to Malta, currently serving as the concessionaire to the country’s controversial individual investor programme or cash-for-passports scheme.