AN ANTI-AMERICAN AND ANTI-BRITISH DIATRIBE BY ONE OF MALTA'S LONGTIME CORRUPTERS AND TAX EVADERS TRYING TO MINIMIZE THE GREYLISTING

 

Sticking his Neck Out by COSIMO 

A dodgy individual who is the personification of Maltese corruption has published another opinion piece, in Malta Today, attempting to minimize the FATF Greylisting, insisting that it was done maliciously by the United States, after PM Abela played politics with the visiting American Secretary of Defence, Mark Esper. As the saying goes, "People who live in Glass Houses should not Throw Stones."

 MICHAEL FALZON, thrown out of the Nationalist Party after it was disclosed that he has a half a million Euros in a Swiss account, which he could not satisfactorily explain, has no bloody business minimizing the FATF action by saying that more money laundering, by volume, occurs in New York and London. He's alleging that a vengeful USA orders the FATF to Greylist little Malta in retribution for a perceived insult, served up by PM Robert Abela, upon Sec Def Esper. While we are sure that the US did not appreciate Abela's gameplaying with then-Secretary Esper, (he is known to have the same thick skin common to all American CEOs), Falzon's was in error, when he cited that as the reason.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Malta's well-oiled money laundering machine has taken on a transnational dimension in recent years, and  thereby directly impacted the American financial structure. One only need mention some of the names to prove this thesis: Pilatus Bank; Alex Nain Saab Moran; Iran sanctions violations; cocaine smuggling; fuel oil smuggling; Tuna laundering; IIU [Citizenship by Investment programme]; Matthias Krull. The list goes on and on ad infinitum.

Back in his Place by COSIMO

The criminal use of US Dollars, which must all move through the New York banking structure, placed Malta near the top of the list of jurisdictions designated as a Clear and Present Danger to American National Security due to Money Laundering and Terrorist financing. it is a cesspool of financial crime whose impact reaches the United States, when all that dirty money flows through New York's banks, and the Federal Reserve.

Having demonstrated that the US has ample reason to vote for Greylisting at the FATF conference, joining the UK and Germany, we now must examine the motive for Falzon to spread such disinformation, which is a clear effort to minimize the impact of the FATF ruling.  He was at the center of the ICIJ Swiss leaks scandal,  after his name showed up having a €465,000 account at HSBC in Switzerland, Although he feebly attempted to claim he earned that money prior to public service, most observers believe that it was the criminal proceeds of bribes received whilst he served in the government, and  that a businessman entering public service after enjoying such "extraordinary financial success" was not likely in Malta. 

His explanation is simply not credible. Falzon later sought, and received legal protection from being arrested for tax evasion and corruption, from Joseph Muscat, with whom he has hitched his star in recent years. Another bad move, given the very public exposure of the criminal history of any Maltese bad actors. Muscat apparently even subsequently granted him amnesty.

Just before her assassination, Daphne Caruana Galizia examined Michael Falzon's many sins, and pronounced him one of the "sleazy scum that has now scraped itself to the surface, and is now running the show ...while cheating all the way to the bank; in Falzon's case: HSBC Private Bank in Geneva."

She wrote the article on September 5, 2017; her final advice to her Fellow Maltese:

"My advice to young Maltese people remains the same: leave. you don't need this. these people are going to carry on poisoning the next few decades, nil natural causes carry them away, but they will meanwhile be coaching an entirely new generation to carry on poisoning it after they are gone with their HATRED, GREED, CHIPS, SLEAZE and CORRUPTION." Running Commentary.