Finance Minister Edward Scicluna has struck out at recent news reports, and expressed his disappointment at criticism of Malta's financial services sector, which is being "ferociously and unfairly attacked."

He said that Malta's tax regime, Igaming sector and financial sector must be defended. "I will not stay telling the opposition about the damage they are doing."

He said that when he referred in the past to some untruths which were being said, he was referring to the documents released by the Greens party.

Quoting the document, he indicated some statements which he said were untrue. One such statement, was that Malta didn't mention tax in its EU priorities, he said, adding that he had.

"They said that if Malta wasn't in the EU, it would be listed as a tax haven.  Malta complies with all EU legislation, and cannot be blacklisted. The way we blacklist countries is if they do not have the basic standards respected within the EU."

He said that another statement made was that Malta is the fourth offender when it comes to aggressive tax planning. "Every regime is open to aggressive tax planning. If Malta is among every other EU countries who have such issues, why are you saying Malta is a tax haven."

Turning to statements that 1,000 German nationals hold hidden accounts in Malta, he said that when it comes to compliance, an EU state cannot hide information, be it bank accounts or shareholders in the company. "There are laws that in cases of bank accounts, regarding the automatic exchange of information, in the case of shareholding, and every EU country has to provide information asked for from other EU tax authorities which are under 'foreseeable relevance', a criteria which Maltese and German authorities pass information requested. It is not the first time German authorities have asked for information on shareholders, and Maltese authorities pass this information on the criteria of foreseeable relevance. This is how EU tax authorities pass data to each other. What cannot happen, is fishing expeditions. Our country does not hide anything. Malta is not Panama. We do not have secrecy, we cooperate, and we act according to the agreed upon directives."