Minister Edward Scicluna said today that a new Financial Intelligence and Analysis unit chief will soon be announced.

Asked when a new FIAU director will be appointed by PN MEP David Casa, the Minister said that the FIAU is legislated by law. “Legislation guards the FIAU's autonomy as well as what they could and could not divulge. I never discussed specific cases with the executive director you are referring to, and he never sent me individual reports. It would have been illegal."

"The chairman of this institution is the Attorney General, while the Deputy Chairman is from the Malta Financial Services Authority, and his qualifications are such that he was appointed by Moneyval to evaluate other countries. I cannot have that institution in better hands than they currently are in. I am reappointing that board and they will remain in place. They informed me that the interviews to find a high calibre person to take the executive director position was a long one. They have selected him and were just discussing the financial package which was finalised. He will soon be publicly named by that institution.”

Minister Scicluna dodged a follow-up question by MEP Casa, who asked for his comments on Malta being found to be one of the most corrupt countries in the EU by Transparency International.

During the meeting, Finance Minister Edward Scicluna said that he had replied to an invitation by the Pana committee, saying that he will be available to them, when they visit Malta in February.

Minister Edward Scicluna was being grilled by the EU Parliamentary Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs.

He was slammed on Malta’s taxation system by MEPs Sven Giegold (Greens) and Fabio de Masi (European left). An MEP asked: “The Panama Papers revealed Minister Konrad Mizzi received benefits from a tax haven, so can Malta be in charge of anti-money laundering in the EU?” He also asked “whether it is possible Malta itself will not pass the EU tax haven test, especially with regard to fair taxation? Is it possible Malta will end up on EU list not willing to cooperate?

He was also asked about Malta’s 5% tax, and rebate on tax charged on dividends to foreign shareholders. The minister stressed that the money left over from the rebates gets taxed again.

The minister said: "There were some unfair statements in the questions asked. Pana will raise governance issues and I will be ready to answer them in Malta.  But statements of unfair taxation are unfair as you don’t understand the system, which is not a classical system in Malta”. 

"There is a difference between rates of taxation, and secrecy etc.  If you bother to look at our FIAU website, you can download all documents where Malta was evaluated regularly by Moneyval since 1998 and Malta removed banking secrecy in 1994.  This will show that Malta, when it comes to transparency and anti-money laundering legislation, is fully compliant.  I will invite you to download reports and see how many offenders are brought to court and with which countries we have exchange of information agreements regarding illicit activities.  If you look at those documents you will make a different statement.”

Minister Scicluna insisted that Malta will push through with talks regarding the will be fourth anti-money laundering directive, and thatg Malta will be an honest broker on talks regarding the common corporate tax base.

The minister was barraged by a number of questions related to the Panama Papers, asked whether any criminal investigations launched, and asked about former FIAU Chief Manfred Galdes’ report.

He was also asked whether it is true that the Council has agreed not to fully comply with the Pana committee, however he said he was not informed of such a development and would need to look into it.

The minister said that, regarding Swiss leaks, almost all investigations are complete. Regarding the Panama Papers, he said there are around 100 cases and the first investigations on 33 cases began and are ongoing. The minister was also asked why public registries regarding ultimate beneficial owners will not be made fully public, and the minister said that it is a question of balance. Minister Scicluna stressed that privacy and data protection laws also need to be kept under consideration. He said that the Council’s position is to give the relevant authorities the ability to share the information, but will stop short of making such information fully public.

The minister was asked about Brexit. “If the UK government go ahead with Brexit timetable, how do you see the discussions in Council in preparation of Commission guidelines and how advanced are the plans of the Maltese government in this process, and do you see a top to bottom approach or bottom to top approach with regards to specific and general guidelines?” he was asked.

The minister said: “We have ties with the UK and so Malta wants to be an honest broker there without humiliating any side.  Article 50 has not yet been turned on, and now when the UK Parliament has to approve that,” he said while stressing that he does not wish to speculate on anything."

“We would like to see a centralised approach, so at a technical level there will be a resolution in as smooth a manner as possible. Everyone has their own views and everyone wants to make statements in Council or Parliament and of course they can do that, but we would like it to be centralised. We will like to cool it down, and note for everyone to get hot under the collar".

"It’s a divorce and we want to make it as uncontentious as possible. We would like it to be centralised.

All Maltese ministers are appearing before committees related to their portfolio, in light of Malta's EU Council Presidency.

The EU economy is entering the fourth consecutive year of recovery, the Minister said. ”The Commission had initiated the 2017 semester last November, and the package included some novelty features that were not entirely uncontentious.”

He said that sound fiscal policies will rank high on the agenda, and so will favouring growth friendly composition of budgets, with increase public investment where needed and feasible. "We must also be cautious and not repeat mistakes of the past.”

He spoke about the banking union, and wants to address the issue of non-performing loans and tax certainty. “We also want to address a special topic. Economic migration needs a more balanced approach to help the North African countries, especially Maghreb as they are the gateway to economic migration to Europe.” He spoke about speaking with the ECB, World Bank and also a possible EU package. “An extended European Investment Bank mandate is close to our heart and we believe in it," he said.

He spoke of the need to increase confidence in the banking union, by upholding previously agreed upon priorities. The Maltese EU Presidency is also committed to furthering EU integration and strengthening the EU monetary union.