Minister Konrad Mizzi represented the “paradigm example” of money laundering activities that a new EU directive sought to prevent, Opposition leader Adrian Delia said in Parliament on Monday.
As Parliament debated legal amendments meant to transpose an EU directive on the prevention and response to terrorism, which includes anti-money laundering provisions, Dr Delia said the government needed to look no further than its tourism minister.
He reiterated his call for Dr Mizzi to resign, insisting his position was no longer tenable and that the Prime Minister need to act immediately, albeit already belatedly, to safeguard Malta’s reputation.
The Opposition leader accused the government of inaction on money laundering, noting that it had had to be threatened with proceedings before the European Court of Justice before it transposed the fourth EU money laundering directive.
He said that EU institutions had found general and systemic shortcomings in Malta’s response to money laundering, and pointed out that Pilatus Bank had not only accepted dirty money, but that even its original capital had come from criminal proceedings.
He also referenced a BBC documentary which highlighted the claim that Malta was a haven for money launderers, and a national risk assessment which found the country was at high risk of being used for money laundering and at medium risk for the financing of terrorism.
After 25 years of building a strong reputation, Malta had been placed on the OECD’s blacklist, he added.
Dr Delia’s remarks followed a brief intervention by justice minister Owen Bonnici, who had left the House in order to greet Junior Eurovision contestant Ella on her return to Malta.
The minister had briefly explained the substance of the law, stating that it would aim to curb terrorist activity by making it a crime to incite terrorist actions, clarifying other related crimes, and developing confidentiality mechanisms protecting the activities of the Financial Intelligence and Analysis Unit and its dealings with other FIUs.
‘Brexit deal will preserve the rights of Maltese citizens’ - PM
Speaking on Brexit, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat congratulated British PM Theresa May for her tenacity and expressed his hope that the deal agreed during Sunday’s emergency meeting of the European Council would be voted through the UK Parliament.
Following a process which had lasted almost two years, he said, the European Council had approved a deal which would preserve the rights of Maltese and British citizens alike. Should the deal succeed, Maltese citizens living in Britain would be unimpeded until at least 2020, and vice versa. He also expressed his wish for Malta to become “the most Britain-friendly EU nation” in the wake of Brexit.
However, he struck a cautious note as he echoed EU leaders by arguing that the deal agreed with the UK was “the only deal possible.” Should the House of Commons not endorse the deal, a no-deal scenario would become extremely likely, and preparations remained underway for this eventuality.
Opposition Leader Adrian Delia joined Dr Muscat in expressing his disappointment that Brexit was going ahead. Endorsing the UK-EU deal, he said that the rejection of this deal would have serious repercussions for economies on both sides of the Channel, and questioned the claim, made by Labour MEP Alfred Sant and others, that the deal was intended to “punish” the UK for voting to leave the EU.