Russian whistleblower surrenders to Greek authorities
Maria Efimova, a Russian whistleblower who fed information about secret bank accounts in Malta to murdered Maltese blogger Daphne Caruana Galizia, surrendered to Greek authorities on Monday night.
Saying that she was in fear of her life, the former Pilatus Bank employee reportedly turned herself in to police at Athens’s central Syntgama Square metro station.
Efimova was one of Galizia’s confidential sources, saying that she had seen evidence of transactions amounting to $1 million from Azerbaijan’s ruling clan to an account held by Michelle Muscat, the wife of Malta’s prime minister, via Ergant Inc.
She fled Malta last year, a few months before the assassination of Galizia on October 16 in a car bomb attack, after the investigative journalist had revealed Efimova’s name as one of her sources.
Sources say that Malta has issued an international arrest warrant against Efimova, though previous reports have suggested that she is wanted in Cyprus on embezzlement charges.
Efimova has been living in Crete with her husband and their two children.
