Nationalist Party leader Adrian Delia has insisted the anti-money laundering unit (FIAU) should come clean on whether it has information on the owners of the mystery Dubai company 17 Black.

Speaking during a party event in Sannat, Dr Delia referred to claims by Portuguese MEP Ana Gomes that the FIAU’s Latvian counterparts had passed on all the information about ultimate beneficial owners, accounts and transfers involving 17 Black.

“The Maltese authorities know who owns the company but rather than taking the appropriate measures, the government has decided to continue damaging Malta’s reputation, with consequences that are already being felt throughout the financial services industry and which will continue to be felt,” Dr Delia said.

He said the FIAU’s only response to journalists’ questions on the claims by Ms Gomes was merely “a series of political arguments aimed at downplaying the importance of the issue”.

Referring to recent revelations of a $1.2 billion scheme to launder funds from Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, Dr Delia said Malta was attracting “more and more dirt from around the world” due to the worsening reputation of its financial services.

He also highlighted his ongoing constitutional case to secure the publication of the full Egrant inquiry, reiterating that the Attorney General was breaching the Constitution by denying the Opposition access to the report.

‘Businesses creating wealth, government creating poverty’

Dr Delia said that while the government boasted of the country’s best days (l-aqwa żmien), its electoral slogan, people were living in garages and public gardens because of the government’s lack of social conscience.

While the government tried to fob people off with a small tax rebate, thousands were living in poverty or failing to keep up with the cost of living, he added.

“We have businesses creating wealth and the government creating poverty. The government is not only failing to distribute the wealth fairly, but is endangering its source of the wealth,” Dr Delia said. “The government has no plan and doesn’t care about the wellbeing of the country; it only cares about elections and how best to manipulate the country to win elections.”

‘Gozitan students treated as second-class citizens’

Praising the Church initiative to set up two hostels in Malta to host Gozitan students struggling with soaring rent costs, Dr Delia said the need for such private measures showed the government’s failure to treat all citizens equally.

“The government is sending a clear message to Gozitan students that they are second-class citizens,” he said. “The PN insists there should be no extra hurdles or expenses to Gozitan students benefiting from the same educational opportunities as their Maltese peers.”

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