However, in a legal first, the constitutional court declared that a different magistrate will be assigned to the case, pointing towards Lia’s recusal in similar cases.

Repubblika’s case looks to force police and judicial action on the bank. 

It has already presented documents which showed that ​​criminal charges against the owner and key representatives of Pilatus Bank were never filed by Malta’s Attorney General, despite the Police Commissioner urging her to do so. 

It has also shared European and International Arrest Warrants issued to Interpol, which were sent in 2022. 

The now-infamous Pilatus Bank was made subject to its own inquiry after the European Central Bank shut it down over money laundering allegations. 

The inquiry was concluded in 2020 and late last year, Claude Anne Sant Fournier was charged with money laundering offences in his role as Money Laundering Report Officer (MLRO) and director of the bank, but several other names seemed to have eluded the police.

The bank has faced criticism for the veil of secrecy surrounding politically exposed persons (PEPs).

It has been at the centre of various inquiries so far, including the recent inquiry involving kickbacks on the citizenship-by-investment scheme between Schembri and Nexia BT’s Brian Tonna. 

It also played a crucial part in the infamous Egrant inquiry which found no evidence that the Prime Minister or his wife held any Pilatus accounts as had been alleged by the now-assassinated journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.

Several top officials held bank accounts at Pilatus, with a company at the heart of a US investigation on dirty money for Venezuelan politicians, Portmann Capital, transferring €120 million through the bank.

A network of over 50 companies and trusts secretly owned by Azerbaijan’s ruling elite also used accounts at the bank, funnelling millions into Europe. The Egrant Inquiry flagged the issue and said it merited further investigation.

Should Nadine Lia have been removed from the case?