Maltese gaming authorities will start exchanging anti-Mafia intelligence with their Italian counterparts following a major crackdown that uncovered Malta's role in a major organised crime money laundering racket.
Digital Economy Parliamentary Secretary Silvio Schembri told Parliament on Wednesday that the Malta Gaming Authority was entering into an agreement with Italy’s Guardia di Finanza to exchange information for investigations into illegal gaming activity.
Read: Malta at high risk of being used for money laundering
The agreement, set to be signed in the coming days, will see Maltese and Italian authorities cooperate in the analysis of complex company information in a bid to crack down on Mafia infiltration of the sector.
The news came shortly after Italian authorities released a statement announcing a major investigation into online betting fraud which led to the arrest of 68 people and the seizure of over €1 billion in assets across the EU.
The investigation, which saw the cooperation of Maltese authorities, was led by the prosecutors of Bari, Reggio Calabria and Catania, and coordinated by the Italian National Anti-Mafia and Counter-Terrorism Directorate.
The volume of sports and other bets, discovered by the Guardia di Finanza and the police, is worth over €4.5 billion, according to Italian media reports.
Around 80 search operations were reportedly being carried out in various cities across Italy in connection with the case.
Read: Ndrangheta ran a €2 billion money-laundering operation through Malta-based online betting
The investigation involved the collaboration of Eurojust – the EU’s judicial agency, and the judicial authorities of Malta, as well as Austria, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, the Netherlands, Curacao, Serbia, Albania, and Spain, which was fundamental for the tracing of the accumulated assets and the seizures across the EU.
Italian investigators said the criminal groups were using Mafia methods to infiltrate the online betting market to launder funds deriving from drug trafficking and other criminal activities.
Once laundered, the funds were then reinvested in estate assets and financial positions abroad, in the name of foundations and a complex web of shell companies.
Italian media reports say the Bari investigation focused on a Puglia crime syndicate headed by infamous Mafia boss Vito Martiradonna, 70.
Sources involved in the Maltese side of the investigation told Times of Malta that the investigation was the biggest that the MGA had ever been involved in.
“This involved a wide number of companies in Malta and indeed across the EU, moving vast sums of money through fraudulent means,” the source said.