Malta is currently going through a very rough patch. Sad and shameful allegations and news are hitting the wires, punching holes in the soul of Malta’s economic bedrock.
As president of the Malta Institute of Accountants, I am deeply concerned. We have been at the forefront of the profession locally and in the international scene. We have invested and have become the role model for other professions. We have been prime catalysts in Malta’s transformation towards being a premier financial services centre of excellence.
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I represent 3,100 accountants, members of our institute, the voice of its members, who are exemplary, ethical and technically extremely apt professionals. Accountants are the regulated gatekeepers of financial transactions. They have earned the reputation of being the most trusted business adviser, giving solid confidence to investors for the well-being of our economy.
These alleged accusations need to be cleared, one way or the other, and with full force and haste.
Where are the regulators, law enforcers and the judicial system that are also part of our fabric of confidence to investors?
Malta needs to remain credible if we want to shine as the place of choice for correct reputable investors. The regulators with the bark and the bite to carry out investigations and sanction action should clear this with agility in the best interests of the Maltese populace. Complacency and decision paralysis is a no go.
Procrastination is unfair on the allegedly accused, as they are entitled to innocence until proven otherwise, as much as it is unfair on fellow Maltese citizens who have banked their savings with the confidence they are entitled to as investors.
I believe that this saga is pounding dangerously at the crumple zone of the foundations of our economy. It is putting us on the radar we do not want to be on.
Do we realise that we are probing the pain-point of our economic well-being? Do we realise what attracts serious foreign investors to Malta, and the workforce they engage? Do we realise what positive contribution they accrue to our fellow Maltese countrymen investing their life savings in property to rent to accommodate foreigners? Do we realise that our economy can implode if foreign investors look away and find less controversial places to invest in? Do we know what attracted foreign investors to Malta in the first place?
I appeal strongly to the responsible regulators and law enforcers to get to the bottom of this saga
It has been the tacit qualities of our professionals, and the way our culture, our families, our education system and our society taught us about integrity and ethical behaviour. That is what has driven and propelled our economy to where it is today. Do we have any respect for the critical role accountants, members of the institute, have played over its 52 years of existence? Do we appreciate their rock-solid hard work afforded for the greater good of Malta?
On behalf of our members, this is my high-pitched wake-up call to all the responsible regulators, for the sake of Malta’s international reputation, for the well-being of our fellow Maltese citizens. Take action.
This is your obligation towards our reputation and credibility. I am obliged to the 3,100 members of the institute to boldly underline that inertia and delaying action will only drag us down. Malta cannot afford this. Our economy is hanging on our reputation, and our reputation is all about the ethical behaviour of our people.
The institute works hard to keep its members abreast of what Malta offers, of our competitive advantages as an island economy, of heavy technical developments, and of the highest and most correct ethical behaviour and professional scepticism.
Our members are all trained and educated in the same way, and it is the solid contribution of our members and other professionals that chiselled Malta’s name with that of top jurisdictions with the highest reputation for doing clean business.
As president of the institute, I am in duty bound to defend all members in good standing. Having said this, I will with the same vigour separate the chaff from the wheat. We need conclusive investigations to be carried out by the regulators to unblock this impasse. The institute does not have these investigative powers.
I therefore appeal strongly to the responsible regulators and law enforcers to get to the bottom of this saga, and this in the name of good governance and all those who remain as straight as arrows upholding the highest standards of correctness and ethical behaviour, keeping Malta’s impeccable reputation where it belongs – for the greater good of all Maltese fellow citizens.
Franco Azzopardi is president of the Malta Institute of Accountants.