FUNDING TO FORM MALTA'S PILATUS BANK CAME FROM ZANJANI/MONFARED CREW THAT STOLE $2.2bn FROM IRAN SANCTIONS EVASION PROCEEDS

Mehdi Shams

It appears that the seed money to organize and finance the Pilatus Bank of Malta, which was run by Ali Sadr Hasheminenejad, came from the earlier-formed UK holding company, PILATUS CAPITAL LIMITED, which originally was known as SIRIUS TRADE FINANCE LTD, and was formed by MEHDI SHAMSZADEH. Mehdi, the former director of IRISL, the OFAC-sanctioned Islamic Republic of Iran Shiping Lines. has an interesting background; Read on.

Shamszadeh, who reportedly paid the £5m fee to obtain his fast-track UK residency, then Anglicized his name to Shams, and moved to London, formed Sirius, and then brought in Ali Sadr and the Pilatus CEO HAMID REZA GHANBARI, another Dominica CBI passport holder, to Pilatus Capital. He is believed to have effectively fronted for Ali Sadr. He was an integral part of the crew of notorious Iranian fraudsters who diverted billions from the proceeds of Iran oil sanctions evasion profits taken in by their group, and was later given a Sentence of Death by an Iranian court, together with BABAK ZANJANI, his co-defendant, on the fatal charge of Corruption on Earth, for their crimes. Unless he and Zanjani, or one of the players living outside Iran, with financial access, refund the stolen $2.2bn to the Islamic Republic, their death sentences will not be commuted to Life Imprisonment.

Babak Zanjani

His crew, which included ALI REZA MONFARED, also in custody in Iran, and sentenced to twenty years, also included another Shams co-defendant, HAMID FALLAH HERAVI, and REZA ZARREB, who was indicted in Federal Court, and is currently cooperating with the authorities in New York. The players reportedly secreted their illicit profits in several jurisdictions, including Turkey.

How on earth, given the dark origins of Pilatus, and its capital, did bank charter approval issue in a record thirty days ? We cannot say, but substantial bribes & kickbacks would have bee paid in advance to grease the application through. We would like to see law enforcement and regulators in Malta track and trace back the Pilatus start-up costs and fees back to Monfared, Zanjani and Zarrab.

Reza Zarrab a/k/a/ Resa Sarraf