The Maltese people deserve institutions that truly operate in the interest of the common good and do everything necessary to establish the truth, the Civil Society Network said today.

In a statement, it called on Finance Minister Edward Scicluna to inform the Maltese people whether he had had any form of involvement, even if indirect, in the decision to sack FIAU officials Jonathan Ferris and Charles Cronin right after the results of the last general election were announced.

Mr Ferris and Mr Cronin used to lead the financial analysis section and the compliance section of the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit.

Their dismissal, took place at the same time that Prof. Scicluna had publicly asked if the FIAU reports had been written with the intention of being leaked.

“In CSN's view, the lack of willingness to establish the truth about such vital matters can only be referred to as “institutional omertà”.

The dismissals, as well as the resignations of Police Commissioner Michael Cassar and FIAU director Manfred Galdes in a period of three months, did not happen in a vacuum, but in view of an FIAU report pointing towards individuals in the higher strata of Maltese political power, it said.

The network said that under these circumstances, it agreed with the statement by Chief Justice Silvio Camilleri in October that "the rule of law requires that there is a punishment for anyone breaking the law. If there is punishment for some but not for others then the law courts will no longer be administrators of justice but would become administrators of injustice by penalising some and not others. Instead of the rule of law we would have the rule of criminals".