By Tim Diacono From maltatoday

Charles Mangion warns education minister against critcism of MFSA head Joe Bannister, arguing that the financial services sector is ‘very delicate’

Labour MP Charles Mangion urged Evarist Bartolo to “show prudence”, after the education minister declared his lack of faith in the Malta Financial Services Authority’s head for his interests in the Cayman Islands.

“That issue had cropped up in 2012 and had been resolved following discussions between [then Prime Minister] Lawrence Gonzi and [then Opposition leader] Joseph Muscat,” Mangion said ahead of a parliamentary committee debate over a financial services draft law. “Indeed, Joe Bannister was reappointed MFSA chairperson in 2014.

“The financial services sector is very delicate, and it has continued to progress under Bannister’s stewardship. I appeal for more prudence when commenting in the House about this sector.”
Bartolo on Tuesday reiterated his pre-electoral criticism of Bannister, over his directorship of Cayman Islands funds.

He added that Bannister had deposited money in SR Global Fund Inc, a Cayman Islands hedge fund set up by Sloane Robinson, who he noted had to recently refund £2 million after being found guilty of tax evasion.

He said that the law must be updated to forbid Maltese people from opening companies and bank accounts in countries with whom it doesn’t have an automatic exchange of information – such as the Cayman Islands, Guernsey, and the US state of Delaware.

Bannister later told the Malta Independent that he does not have a company or any funds in the Cayman Islands, a notorious tax haven.

“The issue was raised five years ago and the matter was closed,” he said. “Both the then Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition know the facts.”

However, Bartolo in a Facebook post noted that the United States Securities and Exchange list Bannister as the director of four funds registered in the Cayman Islands – Sr Global Fund LP, SR Phoenicia LP, CICC AGI Sloane Robinson Greater China Funds LP, and SRH Eclipse LP.

In the past, Bartolo had accused Bannister of failing to declare a directorship in a Cayman Islands company in the Malta Financial Services Authority’s annual report. Bannister denied any conflict of interest as director of Kairos Fund.

Bartolo claimed that another Kairos director, Peter Astleford, received a €463,000 direct order from MFSA in consultancies to his firm Dechert LLP.

The MFSA had said Bannister’s involvement was declared, and that Bannister’s international involvement had been “utilised by both the MFSA and various practitioners to solve complex problems in the funds sector”.

The regulator said Astleford had resigned from Kairos in early 2007 and that Dechert LLP had helped MFSA develop its Professional Investor Fund [PIF] regime.

For more on this story go to:  http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/news/national/64054/labour_mp_urges_bartolo_to_show_prudence_over_mfsa_head_criticism_#.Vw_azauUSaw