THE LATEST OFFICIAL FATF SUMMARY ON MALTA'S PROGRESS OMITS LACK OF ANTI-MONEY LAUNDERING ENFORCEMENT

This update by the Financial Action Task force (FATF), published recently, notes some progress in Malta's AML/CFT programme, but conspicuously omits any reference  to the total and complete lack of any major money laundering indictments. The statement, which follows below, is notable for what it does not say. 

Unless the country's corrupt police and prosecutors bring a fistful of major money laundering prosecutions early this year, and take them to verdicts and prison sentences, do not expect Malta to exit the FATF Greylist at any time in the future, Labour Party (and captive Maltese media) propaganda notwithstanding. 

To compound the problem, the exposure of the country's sordid love affair with Russian Oligarchs and their dirty billions has further soured the relationship with the Members of the European Union, not to mention the United States, whose votes were responsible for the Greylisting in the first place. Anyone who believes the optimistic statements of government officials has drunk far too much of the PL Kool  Aid.

MALTA

In June 2021, Malta made a high-level political commitment to work with the FATF and MONEYVAL to strengthen the effectiveness of its AML/CFT regime. At its February 2022 Plenary, the FATF made the initial determination that Malta has substantially completed its action plan and warrants an on-site visit to verify that the implementation of Malta’s AML/CFT reforms has begun and is being sustained, and that the necessary political commitment remains in place to sustain implementation and improvement in the future.  Malta has made the following key reforms: (1) continuing to demonstrate that beneficial ownership information is accurate and that, where appropriate, effective, proportionate, and dissuasive sanctions, commensurate with the ML/TF risks, are applied to legal persons if information provided is found to be inaccurate; and ensuring that effective, proportionate, and dissuasive sanctions are applied to gatekeepers when they do not comply with their obligations to obtain accurate and up-to-date beneficial ownership information; (2) enhancing the use of the FIU’s financial intelligence to support authorities pursuing criminal tax and related money laundering cases, including by clarifying the roles and responsibilities of the Commissioner for Revenue and the FIU; and (3) increasing the focus of the FIU’s analysis on these types of offences, to produce intelligence that helps Maltese law enforcement detect and investigate cases in line with Malta’s identified ML risks related to tax evasion. The FATF will continue to monitor the COVID-19 situation and conduct an on-site visit at the earliest possible date.