Calls for EU to investigate Russian payments to Maltese dentist 

The level of corruption with which Russian officials and oligarchs infected individual EU countries is shocking. The EU must conduct a comprehensive examination of Maltese “passport-for-money” schemes, writes famous Ukrainian journalist Tetiana Nikolayenko of Censor.Net.

She underlines in her article https://censor.net/en “That the level of corruption with which Russian officials and oligarchs infected individual EU countries are shocking. The purchase of EU passports is one such example. Such schemes flourished in many countries – Spain, Portugal, Greece, but even Cyprus and Bulgaria abandoned the “passport for money” schemes.

Malta remains the only country that continues to provide a cynical path to an “EU golden passport”. For Russian oligarchs, Malta became a real back door to the EU. Public organizations appealed to both the Maltese authorities and the EU with a request to “stop passports sale to Russians”, which Malta agreed to, but the EU has now taken Malta to court to halt the profit-making scheme.

But apparently, there were enough people in this country interested in Malta’s Individual Investor Program (IIP) remaining open to Russians, writes a Ukrainian journalist. The programme was run by Jonathan Cardona, a close friend and associate of Chris Fearne, Malta’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Health. Fearne worked for Minister for Energy and Health Konrad Mizzi, whom the US publicly banned him from entering for his “involvement in significant corruption“. He was patronized by the Prime Minister of Malta Joseph Muscat , who was named “Person of the Year” in 2019 by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) due to the rise in crime and corruption in Malta. But even the resignation of the odious prime minister did not harm Fearne, who remained in this senior and influential position under the current prime minister Robert Abela.

Fearne did not hesitate to use the public service for his own interests. Malta’s National Audit Office criticized him for awarding a €163,000-a-year contract to his chief of staff (and, according to the local press, mistress) Carmen Ciantar, making her Malta’s highest-paid official. Ciantar’s daughter Celine, a graduate of the dental institute, was appointed to senior government positions from the student desk despite her lack of experience. But what is more interesting is not the petty corruption of this official, but the question of how certain politically-exposed Russian oligarchs who needed to get to Europe secured Maltese passports. One of these oligarchs was Leonid Levitin. While Cardona was in charge of this programme, members of the influential Levitin family received Maltese citizenship.

Leonid Levitin is a brother of Igor Levitin, the former minister of transport of the Russian Federation, and now Putin’s assistant on transport and infrastructure issues in the administration of the Russian president. In the Russian and international press, there are hundreds of reports not only about his loyalty to the Putin regime, but also about Igor Levitin’s close personal friendship with Vladimir Putin. Levitin not only participates in the organization and implementation of Russian aggression against Ukraine, but he is also responsible for a very important part of it – relations with Iran, establishing a way to circumvent international sanctions through the supply of Iranian drones and missiles with which the Russian occupiers kill Ukrainians every day. The British press recently reported on Levitin’s visits to Iran, where he arranged for the supply of Russian helicopters to pay the Shaheds.

Levitin’s Maltese citizenship is now under closer scrutiny after a leaked bank transfer allege that a certain Viacheslav Rezchikov – an Austria-based businessman known to be a fixer and business partner of the Levitin family – allege that he transferred €3.2 million to the daughter of Carmen Ciantar, Celine, in November 2019. At the time of the transfer, Celine had just graduated from the dental school and was waiting for an appointment to a government position, which was later given to her by Fearne. Under no circumstances it is possible to imagine that she, as a student, would grant a multimillion-euro loan, which Rezchikov was supposedly returning to her with this payment. Moreover, as indicated in the payment, 3.2 million euros is only part of the “debt” that Rezchikov had to return to the Maltese student, who was the daughter of the chief of staff of the deputy-prime minister of Malta. It is not known what was the exact total amount of “debt obligations”. Neither the Maltese student, nor the Russian oligarch, nor the Russian fixer in Vienna reported about this loan.

Advertisement

However, a day after receiving the payment in November 2019, Celine Ciantar posted this celebratory Instagram post with a photo of herself with her mom and the words: “2019 turned out to be quite a good year…“:

And it is difficult to disagree with her. In 2019 the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project  also concluded that Maltese achievement in corruption was such an impressive that prime minister of the country was “awarded” an annual corruption prize. As OCCRP mentioned in its report the country is “a small nation held hostage by large criminal interests”, an island where “crime and corruption flourish with impunity”, and a local journalist, Daphne Caruana Galizia, who investigated the sale of Maltese passports to Russian oligarchs, was simply killed.

While the transfer itself took place in 2019, its ramifications could still play out today. Whether the money is still being spent or not, Kompromat on a close associate of the deputy prime minister of an EU state by the Kremlin gives the Russians a useful lever of influence, concludes Tetiana Nikolayenko in her article. Source: https://censor.net/en/n3422676

Right of reply

As a result of the publication of this article, a Maltese law firm representing the Levetin family, contacted this website and requested a right of reply to the allegations made by the Ukrainian journalist Tetiana Nikolayenko of Censor.Net and to refute and defend their client against the allegations made.

We reprint their two emails to eureporter in full:

Email 1.

To the Editor,

We write at behest of our client, Dr Celine Camilleri Ciantar, in direct reference to an article published on the website www.eureporter.co dated the 6^th of June 2023 with the title “Calls for EU to investigate Russian payments to Maltese dentist” (the “Article”) – https://www.eureporter.co/world/malta/2023/06/06/calls-for-eu-to-investigate-russian-payments-to-maltese-dentist/.

This legal letter is being sent as a right of reply to the above-mentioned defamatory article and the unfounded allegations made in its content. You are erroneously and maliciously alleging that our client, Dr Camilleri Ciantar, has received funds from a third-party purporting to be some form of repayment for a previous loan from our client to the said third party. Worse, you insinuate that this alleged act was intended as a part of a plan by our client to commit corruption.

Firstly, my client categorically and fully denies the content of the respective article. It is nothing but the figment of the imagination of third parties who are maliciously attacking the integrity and good repute of our client.

Secondly, and for the purpose of clarity, our client once again strongly refutes the allegations being made in her regard and holds that she has never paid nor provided any form of loan to any third party and, furthermore, was never in receipt of any funds as your article claims.  

Moreover, our client has absolutely no relations and does not even know, be it directly or indirectly, Mr Viacheslaz Rezchikov, who has allegedly made such a transfer to our client, as you allege.

Our client reiterates that this article and the allegations it contains are completely baseless, unfounded and are pure inventions solely intended to damage and harm our client’s good repute and professional standing. This article and the series of lies and conjectures being maliciously pushed forward by third parties against our client and her mother, Ms Carmen Ciantar, are a complete fabrication simply intended to cause harm to the private and professional lives of our clients.

We have every reason to believe that what you allege with respect to both Dr Celine Camilleri Ciantar and Ms Carmen Ciantar, are nothing but frame ups in their regard.

So much for your better guidance. 

Cordially, 

…………………

Email 2.

Thank you for taking the time to respond and for pulling down the story pending your further investigations.

With regards to the allegations in question, our client has immediately gone to the Police Commissioner and to a magistrate to investigate her. She also made these actions public:

https://timesofmalta.com/articles/view/carmen-ciantar-second-letter-police-seeking-urgent-investigation.1036187

https://www.maltatoday.com.mt/news/national/123323/carmen_ciantar_not_yet_called_in_for_questioning_as_she_files_second_request_for_police_investigation

Ciantar asks to testify and clear her name from ‘baseless allegations’

Clearly, if our client had anything to hide, she would not have taken these steps. It is worth pointing out that Ms Ciantar suspended herself from her post as CEO of the Foundation of Medical Services to serenely defend herself without pay to protect her integrity and that of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and the government.

The allegations and the related ‘documents’ are false and bogus from beginning to end. There is simply and absolutely no truth in them. Repeating or reproducing a lie doesn’t turn it into truth.

Criminal liars hiding in anonymity and highly dubious websites do not have a right of reply. They belong in a court of law accused of calumny and, in this case, much worse.

It is not our place to interfere in your job as a journalist. Ours is to represent, advise and act in the best interests of our client to defend herself and her integrity in the face of a crystal clear frame up and all those collaborating in it

One final point. You will appreciate that we cannot scour the internet for every instance in which these lies are spread. We just hope that you will, out of principle, refuse to keep reproducing them when all the evidence shows that they are fake.

Regards,

……………..

EU Reporter response:

The Ukrainian outlet and journalist are very reputable and the article remains live in Ukraine…. https://censor.net/en/news/3422676/calls_for_eu_to_investigate_russian_payments_to_maltese_dentist

The original article in Censor.Net is based on evidence, ie a Swift payment record and is, therefore, more than simple allegations….it is factually based.

Share this article: