There has been no signing of agreement when it comes to the SOFA deal Prime Minister Robert Abela said in Parliament on Monday.
“Despite what is reported in the media all out of speculation, there has been no signing on the SOFA agreement,” explained Abela.
The SOFA is a Status of Force Agreement, which was reported to have been on the table for signing between Malta and the United States of America. It was said that the signing was going to happen in return for the USA giving a favourable review of Malta with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) – although this is something that the Prime Minister later denied.
In Parliament, Abela once again stated that the potential agreement on SOFA had nothing to do with the Moneyval test. “The two are not tied together whatsoever.”
Abela said that the Opposition are constantly pushing that the government will fail at passing the Moneyval report. “As a government we have done everything and all the changes necessary for Malta to pass the upcoming Moneyval report.”
Abela pointed out that one of the largest concerns of the internal taxes commission is that of persistent tax defaulters. “One of the biggest issues of the Moneyval report is something which both our previous opposition leader Adrian Delia and our newly elected leader Bernard Grech have benefitted from; so instead of pushing to improve the system, they are taking advantage of it.”
Grech settled his tax dues when he became a candidate for the PN leadership, but his predecessor Delia still owes €60,000 in taxes.