Magistrate Temporarily Remands FIAU Official In Custody For Refusing To Answer Questions In Zenith Money Laundering Case
The court this morning ordered that a Financial Investigation Analysis Unit (FIAU) official be remanded in custody, albeit temporarily, for contempt of court after she refused to answer questions about testimony she had given before the court.
The situation was eventually resolved after the witness agreed to testify behind closed doors.
The witness – an FIAU enforcement official – was called to testify in the case against Zenith Finance directors Matthew Pace and Lorraine Falzon, regarding a fine dished out to the firm by the FIAU.
The firm was fined over a failure to carry out the necessary money laundering checks on a number of its clients.
After testifying about the fine and stating that it had been linked to two particular clients, lawyers representing the accused asked to cross-examine the witness and asked her to reveal to the court the identity of the two clients.
The witness refused to answer the question, citing provisions of the law precluding her from doing so.
Her refusal sent the defence into a fury, insisting that it was unacceptable for the prosecution to call witnesses to testify about a fine and to “throw a red herring just because the media is present”, only to then refuse to allow the defence to investigate the claims further.
“The court also wants to know,” interjected the magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech, who is presiding over proceedings.
“You can’t pick and choose, you either don’t testify or you answer questions,” she said, adding that once the witness had given up her right to not to answer questions, she was now obliged to do so.
The court ordered that she reveal the identity of the two clients, but the official remained steadfast in her refusal which she repeated several times.
Despite objections by the prosecution, the magistrate said she had been left with no option but to remand the witness in custody for contempt of court.
She was led out of the courtroom by a court marshall and advised to seek advice on her position as deliberations continued on the way forward with the magistrate chiding the prosecution for having put the witness in a very difficult situation.
The prosecution insisted that the witness had only been called to testify about a document which was already in the public domain, however the magistrate insisted that once she had mentioned the two clients under oath, she was obliged to reveal their identity.
At the start of the witnesses testimony, the magistrate had in fact questioned why an FIAU official had been called to testify, noting that it was an irregular occurrence.
“This is exactly why I mentioned it at the start,” the magistrate stressed as a back and forth between the prosecution and defence continued.
At one point, it was suggested that her replies be submitted in writing and presented to defence, but they weren’t having any of it.
Lawyer Edward Gatt, who is representing Pace and Falzon, argued that the fact that she had already testified in open court meant that she needed to answer questions in open court.
“Not to mention the fact that we’re threading on ground of Constitutional breaches because the FIAU is an institution in this country, and the court now has a situation where an institution of this country has already penalised our clients. The court has understood me, so I’ll leave it at that for the time being,” Gatt said.
He continued to insist that the witness needed to answer the question and “tell the court that she was referring to Keith Schembri and Adrian Hillma”.
The magistrate eventually agreed to the witness testifying behind closed doors.
She was led back into the courtroom with the press asked to leave while she testified. She emerged a few minutes later, presumably after having disclosed to the court the identity of the two clients.
At the end of the sitting Gatt informed the court that he would be initiating Constitutional proceedings on behalf of his clients.
The case continues in July.
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