Malta’s anti-money laundering unit (FIAU) has offered a cryptic response to claims it is in possession of information about 17 Black, a mystery Dubai company linked to graft suspicions involving two top government officials.
Portuguese MEP Ana Gomes said on Friday that Latvia’s anti-money laundering agency had given its Maltese counterparts all the information about ultimate beneficial owners, accounts and transfers involving 17 Black.
Replying to questions by The Sunday Times of Malta, the FIAU said that if the information provided by Ms Gomes was correct, it meant allegations that the Unit had not done its job were false.
Leaked Panama Papers e-mails detail how 17 Black was one of two companies that planned to secretly feed in millions to the Prime Minister’s chief of staff Keith Schembri and Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi’s offshore firms.
A leaked FIAU report, detailing Dr Mizzi’s activities as energy minister, found transfers totalling $1.4 million to 17 Black though ABLV, a Latvian bank that has been shut down following money-laundering concerns.
An FIAU spokesman said the Unit has an excellent relationship with the FIU of Latvia and both FIUs have cooperated and been forthcoming to one another on numerous cases.
The FIAU’s latest annual report shows there were three requests for information and cooperation between Malta and Latvia in 2017.
Latvia’s FIU confirmed earlier this year that it had provided, in February 2018, information about 17 Black to the FIAU following a request for assistance.
Asked directly if the FIAU could confirm that it received information about 17 Black, and say what that information was, a spokesman for the unit said the law prevented such disclosures.
The FIAU has been accused by MEP David Casa of shelving the 17 Black report about Dr Mizzi.
The unit’s spokesman told The Sunday Times of Malta that if Ms Gomes’ Tweet was true, it meant accusations that it shelved a report, and that the report leaked to Mr Casa was conclusive, were both false.
17 Black emerged from the report as a key link in discovering where Mr Schembri and Dr Mizzi were going to receive €150,000 a month each from, according to the leaked e-mails.
The monthly figure would mean the two men were going to receive triple their annual government salary in just a single month.
Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has not taken any action against the two men following the 17 Black revelations.
Former Opposition leader Simon Busuttil said in a Tweet yesterday that Dr Muscat “obviously knew” who 17 Black belongs to, “because it should be making his associates Keith Schembri and Konrad Mizzi millionaires”.
“He couldn’t possibly not have asked them. So what’s keeping him from telling us,” Dr Busuttil said in a Tweet.
Following the 17 Black revelations by the Daphne Project in April, Mr Schembri said the leaked Panama Papers e-mail by his financial advisers Nexia BT referred to “draft business plans” involving his business group.
Mr Schembri has failed to answer questions about how an offshore set-up which was not declared to the tax authorities fits in to business plans involving his local Kasco companies.
On his part, Dr Mizzi has denied any link to 17 Black, despite the leaked e-mail clearly showing his Panama company featured in the €150,000-a-month scheme.
jacob.borg@timesofmalta.com