The finance minister may complain about taxi drivers badmouthing Malta, the Prime Minister may say we are being picked on because we are small and other countries are jealous of our success. But the pure fact of the matter is that the EU’s microscope has been trained on Malta for a long time now, and for good reason.
Make no mistake, this situation is of the government’s own making. The government cannot continue to blame the local or the foreign media for stirring the hornets’ nest.
Make no mistake, this situation is of the government’s own making. The government cannot continue to blame the local or the foreign media for stirring the hornets’ nest.
Finance Minister Edward Scicluna yesterday took exception to a report in an esteemed foreign newspaper that reported how the European Commission is set to take further action against Malta over its lax anti-money laundering laws.
Matters have clearly come to a head. Over two months ago the Commission had given Malta a two-month deadline to fully transpose the European Union’s 4th Anti-Money Laundering Directive into national law, short of which it will be hauled before the European Court of Justice over the matter.
Matters have clearly come to a head. Over two months ago the Commission had given Malta a two-month deadline to fully transpose the European Union’s 4th Anti-Money Laundering Directive into national law, short of which it will be hauled before the European Court of Justice over the matter.
That came after the Commission sent a second reasoned opinion to Malta over the breach, although the government had claimed it had fully implemented the law, at the 11th hour,
Back in December. The Commission, however, had found Malta’s transposition to have been incomplete, despite the government’s ‘mission accomplished’ self-congratulatory at the end of last December.
What can be inferred from the article is that Malta’s replies to the Commission were so unsatisfactory that the Commission is going over and above its option to haul the country before the European Courts of Justice over the matter.
Malta has been on the receiving end of a lot of criticism from EU quarters of late after the European Banking Authority took Malta’s Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit to task over its supervision of Pilatus Bank, and with European Commissioner for Justice Věra Jourová having time and time again flagged concern over gaps in Malta’s anti-money laundering laws.
Malta has been on the receiving end of a lot of criticism from EU quarters of late after the European Banking Authority took Malta’s Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit to task over its supervision of Pilatus Bank, and with European Commissioner for Justice Věra Jourová having time and time again flagged concern over gaps in Malta’s anti-money laundering laws.
It is Europe’s belief that anti-money laundering rules are crucial in the fight against money laundering and terrorism financing, and that the Panama Papers and other scandals have revealed the need for stricter anti-money laundering rules in Malta and across the bloc.
Gaps in one member state, after all, have an impact on all others, which is why holistic, effective action against money laundering is one of the central points of the EU’s approach to combating crime in Europe.
Malta has pledged to cooperate, and said that its legal teams will engage in technical discussions with the Commission’s legal team to explain the reasons and justification of Malta’s legislation and make the corrections that might be required.
Those discussions, judging from the Commissioner’s comments, did not go down all that well, and additional action is to be taken. Has the Commission taken an unhealthy and disproportionate line against Malta? We think not.
Those discussions, judging from the Commissioner’s comments, did not go down all that well, and additional action is to be taken. Has the Commission taken an unhealthy and disproportionate line against Malta? We think not.
The plain fact of the matter is that Europe simply cannot afford to let any single state country be the weakest link – money laundered in one country can and often will support crime in another country.
And Malta can no longer be considered to be one of those weak links: too many jobs and too much of our economy depends on our financial services sector, and we can ill-afford any more blows.
We need to clean up our act here in Malta, and, in a wider context, across the whole of the EU, before it is too late and trust is lost for good.