MALTA CASE AGAINST ATTORNEY REMINDS US THAT ST. KITTS REMAINS THE OFFSHORE JURISDICTION DU JOUR

Details from a recent court decision in the Republic of Malta, in which local attorney PIO VALLETTA was ordered to return  €300,000 to the widow of a Kazakh Oligarch accused in his country of corruption, have again confirmed that, if you want a sufficiently opaque offshore jurisdiction, where no questions are asked about the identification of Beneficial Ownership, the Federation of Saint Christopher and Nevis, more commonly known as St. Kitts. is the place to go.

Valletta acquired an SKN shell company, A&P Power Company, Limited, and used that corporate name to bank millions of Euros belonging to RAKHAT ALIYEV, alleged to have diverted public funds to his personal use. The Court determined that attorney Valletta stole a large portion of his client's funds, and only returned a portion. After the oligarch died in an Austrian prison, the widow brought suit to recover the portion of the money that was never returned.

St. Kitts & Nevis corporations, as well as other products of the dodgy offshore centre, are well known subjects for abuse by financial criminals, money launderers, fraudsters, terrorist financiers, and international sanctions evaders, regular readers of this blog will recall that the Iranian national ALI SADR HASHEMI NEJAD, the owner of Pilatus Bank, charter revoked by the ECB, used a St. Kitts CBI passport as proof of nationality, in conducting his business in Europe.

Compliance officers should be aware that there is generally NO legitimate reason for a non-Kittitian bank client to be using St. Kitts or Nevis corporations UNLESS he or she actually has a brick-and-mortar business located there. If you are conducting a risk-based compliance programme, which means banking best practises, clients using shell companies from notorious offshore jurisdictions should be dropped as clients, unless bank counsel is satisfied there is a damn good reason for it, after enhanced due diligence.