Updated 2.40pm - Added PL reaction
Opposition leader Adrian Delia on Sunday questioned if Malta’s bad reputation helped attract a $1.2 billion scheme to launder funds from Venezuela’s state-owned oil company.
A Sliema-based private wealth management firm, Portmann Capital Management is being investigated for its role in the scheme.
Speaking on Net FM, Dr Delia said that if Malta had proven itself to be a tough jurisdiction that clamped down on money-laundering, it would not attract such schemes.
Dr Delia asked what steps the government would be taking to strengthen institutions tasked with fighting such crimes. He urged Prime Minister Joseph Muscat to sit down with him and discuss a way to clean up Malta’s reputation in the financial services sector.
Dr Delia said the government had to acknowledge Malta’s reputation in the sector had been tarnished. Only then could it sit down with the Opposition in a bid to clean it up, he said.
Turning to the controversial €274 million “direct order” for the extension of the St Vincent de Paul residence, Dr Delia vowed that the PN would speak up vociferously whenever public money was not administered well. He said the PN had asked the Auditor General to investigate the contract.
That comment prompted a reaction from the Labour Party in which it asked whether Dr Delia knew that his MP and finance spokesman Mario de Marco served as legal counsel for the winning bidders.
"As the person who defended the contract, De Marco can tell him everything," the PL said.
Dr Delia linked the rise in prices of a number of goods to the many “mystery” energy, hospital and road contracts signed by the government.
He said people were now feeling the effects of the government’s dealings.
Dr Delia questioned why the Labour Party was not speaking up about the rising cost of living. He also asked whether the government had a plan about how to prepare Malta’s infrastructure for a planned influx of 70,000 foreign workers.
Dr Delia said spending €700 million to fix roads would be futile if there was no proper plan about how to deal with Malta’s rising population.
On migration, Dr Delia said it was futile having the Prime Minister speaking about certain things that were not under his control.
People from Africa would continue to cross the Mediterranean regardless of Dr Muscat's words, Dr Delia said. Instead, the government should solve matters under its control.
He accused the Labour Party of ignoring what Marsa residents went through on a daily basis. Dr Delia said the PN would not let the matter rest and would offer concrete solutions to Marsa residents.