Jonathan Ferris facing perjury charges over Egrant claims

Former FIAU manager Jonathan Ferris will face perjury charges over claims he made during the Egrant inquiry.

The inquiring magistrate into the Egrant affair was told at one point that the secret Panamanian company had been owned by the Labour Party, to serve as a vehicle for its electoral funds.

The claim – not mentioned in the inquiry conclusions released to the public – was allegedly made to Magistrate Aaron Bugeja by the former police inspector Jonathan Ferris who left the corps in October 2016 to join the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit a month later.

Ferris had claimed that a $600,000 transaction from a politically exposed person in Azerbaijan to company Buttardi, owned by wife to former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, Michelle Muscat, was identified by him.

He had stated that the transaction was made in the form of a loan.

Ferris allegedly told Bugeja that it was John Dalli – the former EU Commissioner – who suggested during a police interrogation that Egrant belonged to the PL.

Dalli had denied having ever told Ferris such a statement. He had later called for Ferris to be investigated for perjury.

Ferris on the other hand, had told MaltaToday he could not recall suggesting the allegation to Bugeja.​

“You’re taking me back two years… I don’t remember. Of course, I did investigate Dalli. I appeared before Bugeja but I don’t remember if it was about Egrant or any other inquiry,” the former FIAU investigator said.

Dalli had been investigated by Ferris over allegations that his companies had been involved in a Ponzi scheme that defrauded American investors. His two daughters have since been charged with money laundering, fraud and misappropriation.