Nationalist MEP David Casa has called for the scrapping of secrecy laws which enable corrupt politicians to go unpunished.
He was reacting to comments made in parliament yesterday by former minister Manuel Mallia who said an investigation should be launched into whether it was true that the Nationalist Party had received copies of FIAU reports, and if so, who had leaked them and how. He quoted the law which says that the leakage of such documents in a crime punishable by a fine of up to €116,000 and/or a jail term of up to five years.
Possession of the documents outside the FIAU is also a crime, he insisted. Documents had to be kept secret not to prejudice investigations, he argued.
Leak of FIAU documents should be investigated - Manuel Mallia
Mr Casa said Malta must end the practice where people in power used the secrecy provisions in the Anti-Money Laundering Act to escape punishment for corruption and keep people in the dark.
“What investigation is being prejudiced when the investigation has been concluded and FIAU reports calling for police action have been collecting dust on the Police Commissioner's desk for years? The current practice in this country is that the FIAU calls for action, the Commissioner of Police is ordered to do nothing and nobody ever finds out about it because it ‘might prejudice an ongoing investigation’. This is of course a despicable abuse of the system”, Mr Casa said.
He insisted that FIAU investigations into politically exposed persons that call for police action should be published.
“It is true that the current law does not allow this. This has to change. Amend the law. At present the law is being exploited by corrupt politicians to keep their crimes secret.
"Employees of public institutions owe their loyalty to the Maltese people and not to corrupt politicians. In the absence of legal provisions that protect the public, they have a moral obligation to speak out when secrecy provisions are exploited so that corruption and money laundering can go unpunished”.
Mr Casa has handed copies of FIAU reports to the European Commission.