Malta truly is a surreal place.

Yesterday the final report of the PANA Committee – the European Parliament committee set up to look into issue of money laundering and the infamous Panama Papers – was published.

A short time later the Labour Party and then the government issued a press release in which they disingenuously mentioned only a couple of points, which were taken out of context, and tried to give the impression that the report was another feather in the government’s cap – a badge of honour.

Yes, it is true that the PANA committee reported that Malta has transposed EU rules and respects OECD standards in terms of transparency, fight against tax fraud and money laundering.

But it also added that “the institutions in charge of implementing and enforcing rules as regards tax fraud and money laundering are highly politicized.”

It is also true that the committee reported that “the Maltese tax system is very attractive and in line with current international and EU standards as regards harmful tax competition.”

But it added that even the Finance Minister admitted that “the Maltese tax system can be prone to abuse.” The kind of abuse that is once again being revealed through the Paradise Papers.

The Labour Party as usual attacked the Opposition for ‘going abroad to harm Malta’s reputation,’ failing completely to acknowledge that the real people who harmed Malta’s reputation were those politicians who secretly opened up companies in Panama, just a few days after a general election.

The Opposition never said that Malta’s taxation system was unfair – the whole system was devised under a PN administration after all. Neither did it claim that Malta was a tax haven – as the PL is now trying to give the impression.

The PL government was quick to point out, from the report, that Malta’s domestic tax authorities are up to scratch. But the real issue here was that two senior government officials chose not to declare their income to these same authorities, preferring Central America instead.

Then there were the other important points that the PL and the government failed to mention in their press releases:

• That Keith Schembri refused to meet the committee at the last minute.
• That there was a high number of intermediaries from Malta involved in the Panama papers, with some intermediaries having worked with politically exposed persons in Malta. One intermediary in particular - Nexia BT - refused to appear and did not satisfactorily answered the questions raised in writing.
• That with regard to the police, there are reasons to believe that it is not well equipped to fulfil its task optimally, possibly suggesting a case of maladministration.
• That a number of intermediaries did not adequately carry out the mandatory enhanced CDD measures, whether upon the establishment of the business relationship with their clients or during that business relationship, even when there was a suspicion of money laundering; highlights, therefore, the failure to report or uneven reporting on the part of obliged entities of suspected cases of money laundering to the competent FIUs.
• That Malta was the only EU member state with a minister mentioned in the Panama Papers.
• That in some countries including Malta there has been no police investigation despite evidence from the FIU of serious risks of money laundering.
• And that the committee regretted that Malta, which held the rotating Presidency, was particularly uncooperative.

So no, this is no badge of honour. The government, the PL and their media should really stop trying to take people for idiots. Their North Korea-style propaganda tactics do not work.