Hamidreza Ghanbari is an Iranian-born private banker.[341] He was the chief executive of Malta’s Pilatus Bank,[341] which was shuttered in 2018 over systemic failures to comply with anti-money laundering regulations.[587]
Between 2009 and 2012, Ghanbari worked at Emirates NBD,[341] a government-controlled bank in Dubai, where Leyla and Arzu Aliyeva and Tale and Nijat Heydarov were his clients.[341] While he worked at Emirates NBD, Ghanbari met Farnoush Farsiar, who would later manage several Pilatus Bank accounts owned by the Aliyeva sisters and the Heydarov brothers, as well as by others in their network.[341] Ghanbari began working at Pilatus Bank in 2014 and brought several high-profile clients with him; he was the “introducer” of various relationships, according to investigators who trawled through Pilatus Bank records.[341]
As head of private banking at Pilatus, Ghanbari was responsible for resolving account queries for high-risk clients, with whom he had direct and sole contact.[341] He was responsible for processing transactions that were, in the opinion of investigators, “unusual and, in some instances, suspicious, bearing indications of money laundering.”[341] According to investigators, the transactions should have raised Ghanbari’s suspicions, which in turn should have prompted him to report the transactions to the bank’s money laundering reporting officer. However, investigators found no evidence that he made such reports, which he was legally obliged to make.[341] As a result, investigators said he could be liable for criminal prosecution.[341]
In 2021, a magistrate in Malta signed warrants for his arrest and for the arrest of other Pilatus Bank managers and staff.[590] In January 2022, Malta issued an international warrant for his arrest via INTERPOL.[590] As of June 2023, Ghanbari’s whereabouts are unknown.
Hamidreza Ghanbari did not respond to The Sentry’s request for comment.
