Updated with HSBC statement
HSBC has said that an "administrative error" had caused certain letters to be issued with the address of its Attard branch after its closure.
"Certain letters were issued containing the address of Attard branch after its closure due to an administrative error within the bank's correspondence system and templates," the bank statement read.
The statement comes in the wake of questions related to two reference letters issued on behalf of the Prime Minister’s closest aide and a business associate.
A bank spokesman had yesterday confirmed that HSBC’s Attard branch had stopped banking operations 15 months before the two reference letters were issued.
The letters in question, dated May 2013, were issued on behalf of the Prime Minister’s chief of staff, Keith Schembri, and Malcolm Scerri, who now heads the Kasco Group, which Mr Schembri owns.
The letters, which were used in connection with the opening of companies in tax havens, clearly had the words “Attard branch” written on them.
Stressing that HSBC refused to share any information about its clients, a bank spokesman would only say that the Attard branch operated between February 2008 and early 2012.
The bank was asked whether copies of the circulated letters were in fact replicas of the bank documents, but no reply was forthcoming.
HSBC did not comment either on whether it was investigating the matter.
Its policy is not to comment publicly on individual customers’ accounts and relationships
“The bank states again that its policy is not to comment publicly on individual customers’ accounts and relationships,” the spokesman said.
The Times of Malta is informed that top bank executives have ordered an internal probe to establish how the “restricted” reference letters ended up in the media and whether there was anything untoward.
In its statement this morning, HSBC reiterated that it did not comment publicly on individual customer accounts and relationships.
KEITH SCHEMBRI REACTION
Mr Schembri welcomed the bank statement, which, he said, confirmed that there was nothing untoward or suspicious in the reference the bank had issued to him in May 2013.
"It is now all too clear that the whole saga is nothing but one of a very long list of fabrications and lies, in my regard intended solely to harm my reputation and by extension that of the Government. I do not expect better from certain bloggers, but the complicity by certain respected media institutions is unacceptable and a bane to democratic standards and well being of this country," he said.
The letters surfaced after the Panama Papers leaks. Containing an assessment of the reputation and business performance of both Mr Schembri and Mr Scerri, they were sent to BTI Management Ltd, owned by Brian Tonna of Nexia BT.
According to the Panama Papers, Mr Tonna acted as a financial intermediary for both Mr Schembri and Mr Scerri to open trading companies for them in the British Virgin Islands and Panama.
On his appointment as chief of staff, Mr Schembri resigned all directorships in Kasco , while retaining a shareholding.