An anti-money laundering bill tabled by the government in Parliament on Monday was described by PN MP Mario De Marco as a "waste of time", as he criticised how the government had handled Keith Schembri and Konrad Mizzi.

The bill, tabled by Finance Minister Scicluna, makes amendments to the Prevention of Money Laundering Act in light of the fifth set of anti-money laundering directives issued by the European Union.

However while de Marco welcomed the amendments set forth in the bill, he was less than impressed by the fact that Scicluna had not spoken about the alleged missteps of his colleagues in government; namely the Prime Minister's Chief of Staff Keith Schembri and Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi.

"I expected the Finance Minister to outline why Maltese authorities were failing to take action against high-profile cases mentioned in FIAU reports like Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri," De Marco lamented.

De Marco cited reports into Malta by GRECO and Moneyval, saying that these two institutions had said that the dividing wall between the government and the institutions had collapsed, and that the country does not have a normally functioning democracy.

He noted that Scicluna had not explained how the government would be solving the shortcomings that Moneyval had indicated in their report on Malta, and said as well that the amendments tabled in Parliament do not include several measures which can be found in the EU's directives.

On the latter point, Scicluna noted that a series of legal notices will be enacted so to implement the remaining changes - a notion to which de Marco retorted that it would have been better if these measures were presented in one bill as opposed to in this manner, which left everyone with a "foggy view" of the matter.

Speaking about the bill itself, Scicluna explained that the directive clearly defines the need for trust between member states on the money laundering front, and is one step towards cooperation between countries when it comes to trusts and similar legal arrangements.

He said that new regulations regulating transactions of art at a price of over €10,000, with Scicluna here noting that the government has already said that all transactions over that amount done in Malta cannot be done in cash.

The directives, he said, also stop anonymity of bank accounts and safety deposit boxes, while it also obliges the gathering and publication of a functional list of politically exposed persons, although only their grades and not their names will be revealed as part of this exercise.

Scicluna listed the work that the government is currently doing in this sector, making mention of the increase in budget provided to the Financial Intelligence & Analysis Unit (FIAU) so that it can restructure itself and come in line with recommendations from the European Banking Authority.

He also noted how the Malta Gaming Authority had suspended four licences, cancelled eight, and imposed 139 administrative fines over regulatory breaches, contradicting the impression that institutions such as the MGA were ignoring infringements.