For his debut as the new chairman of the Malta Financial Services Authority, John Mamo could not have uttered a string of more unfortunate words and statements when addressing a parliamentary committee meeting.

He is reported to have described Deutsche Bank as a “well-known money-laundering channel” and London as a centre for money-laundering, adding a piece of advice that Malta should not “be a masochist”.

He called on Germany and Sweden to stop criticising us because they themselves did not have a clean slate either.

Well, there you have it, if we thought that a new broom makes for a cleaner sweep, this one intends to carry on where the other left. Sweeping dust under the carpet.

Yet, what he said about Germany, London and Sweden is not correct. The last time I looked, neither German Chancellor Angela Merkel nor British Prime Minister Theresa May had a chief of staff and a Cabinet minister found out to have opened companies in Panama, with instructions to open bank accounts to deposit €1 million a year.

In Malta, we do not only have the Prime Minister’s chief of staff and a senior Cabinet minister being caught out to have done so but, two years down the line, both have been confirmed in their position.

Neither have we heard that reports penned by the financial watchdogs of Germany, Sweden and the UK, pointing fingers at those close to their prime ministers, going missing, as we had in Malta.

Nor have we read reports about their chief of police doing an imitation of the famous three monkeys as valuable evidence was being spirited out of those countries, as we had in Malta.

So, perhaps, Mamo, should have been a mite more circumspect in his words and set our mind at rest that we will be seeing colossal change of how the MFSA will be going about its business of looking after the reputation of our country, which, under the Muscat government, has been thrown to the dogs.