Further action is being taken against Malta’s Pilatus Bank, which was hit with a €4.9m (£4.2m, $5.8m) financial penalty earlier this week.
It has now emerged that the bank and its head of legal, Claude-Anne Sant Fournier, who was previously money laundering reporting officer, have been charged with money laundering.
At the same time, a magisterial inquiry has recommended starting criminal proceedings against eight unnamed individuals linked to the bank, local newspaper Times of Malta reported.
The move comes four years after the murder of Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, who accused the bank of being involved in corruption and money laundering.
Pilatus and Sant Fournier were jointly charged, on 2 September, with breaching the Money Laundering Act on 21 March 2018 and with committing similar offences in previous years.
The court issued a freezing order on the same day against the bank and a temporary order against Sant Fournier.
The newspaper said that both deny the charges.
