The Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), the Dutch gambling authority, was entitled to reject a licence application from a Maltese operator after learning that one of its former shareholders was suspected of being involved in a high-profile murder, a court in the Hague has ruled.
The unnamed operator had originally applied for a licence to enter the Dutch market in 2023, only for the KSA to rule that the company fell short when it came to the country’s integrity test. The operator reacted by taking the regulator to court in a bid to overturn the decision, but a judge has now ruled in favour of the KSA.
Key to the shortcomings in the operator’s application was the lack of information supplied about a specific former shareholder in the company.
The regulator came to the conclusion that there was insufficient information in the company’s statements and that it had also made false reports, which caused it to reject the application. The Court found that the basis for reaching that decision was justifiable.
Its ruling stated: “The defendant was able to rely on the incorrect written statement of 31 August 2021. On behalf of the claimant, it was stated at the time that the claimant itself, the ultimate beneficial owners and every person involved in the activities of the company had until that time been completely disconnected from the personal affairs of [name 5] and had no relationship with him. That statement has proven to be factually incorrect.”
The information referred to was in connection to allegations around the shareholder’s suspected involvement in the murder of an investigative journalist, who was probing into a major corruption case in Malta.
According to the ruling: “The court is of the opinion that the defendant could have come to the conclusion that the reliability of the claimant is not beyond doubt on the basis of the criteria arising from the Wok alone, so that the permit was rightly refused on that basis.
“The court therefore does not address the question of whether the defendant could have refused the permit on the basis of the criteria arising from the Bibob Act, and in deviation from the two opinions of the LBB, because of a serious risk that the permit would also be used to commit criminal offences or because of a reasonable suspicion that the claimant committed a criminal offence in order to obtain the permit.”
Allegations over a link to the murder could refer to the late Daphne Caruana Galizia, a journalist who was killed in a car bombing in 2017, during a major investigation into possible links of Maltese government officials to the Panama Papers.
Yorgen Fenech, who is the millionaire heir to a casino and hotel portfolio, has been charged with the murders, however he denies the charges and is set to plead not guilty in the case.
Fenech was arrested in 2019, when police outlined their belief that he was integral to the planning of the murder.
At the time of his arrest, his assets were frozen and his legal team didn’t pursue bail. Since then however, the long delays to the case being taken to court have led to his legal team successfully pushing for bail, with significant security pledges for his release.
Delays to the case have been met with understandable despair from the victim’s family, who have been scathing in their criticism of the Maltese justice system.
