The director of the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit, Kenneth Farrugia, declined to say if a report on Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi was given to the police, insisting he could not comment on specific cases.
“It’s case specific, we cannot answer, so I cannot tell you that,” Mr Farrugia said when asked by the Times of Malta about the report calling for criminal investigations into activities by Dr Mizzi.
Read: Ferris - FIAU boss told me not to take Mizzi report to Egrant magistrate
Mr Farrugia, who took over the reins of the FIAU last year, nine months after its former head, Manfred Galdes, resigned in the wake of the Panama Papers controversy, was fielding questions following the unveiling of the first anti-money laundering strategy on Wednesday.
It’s case specific, we cannot answer
Nationalist MEP David Casa last February presented in court a report which he said was concluded in March 2017 and that included “details of schemes, systems, behaviour and collusion in corruption and money laundering, involving officials at the highest levels of the Maltese government”.
Leaked extracts from the report indicate that the government’s anti-money laundering agency had traced a payment to a company, 17 Black, from a firm linked to the LNG tanker providing gas to the new power station. According to the leaked extracts, 17 Black was listed as one of the target clients for Dr Mizzi’s and the Prime Minister’s chief of staff, Keith Schembri’s Panama companies.
Dr Mizzi, who accused Mr Casa of being obsessed with him, dismissed the claims as nothing but “unsubstantiated allegations”.
Assistant Police Commissioner Ian Abdilla, head of the economic crimes unit, insisted earlier this year that it was up to the anti-money laundering agency to say why the report had not been handed over to the police.
He acknowledged that the report mentioning Dr Mizzi had not been passed on.