ADPD has redoubled its calls for Central Bank governor Edward Scicluna to be moved aside following Malta’s FATF greylisting debacle.
“Government should embark on a deep and proper clean up instead of shedding crocodile tears,” ADPD – the Green Party chairman Carmel Cacopardo said during a press conference on Saturday.
“Today’s pompous words in favour of good governance contrast with what has been said and done over the past years,” he said, noting that Prime Minister Robert Abela served as a legal adviser to his predecessor, Joseph Muscat, and therefore bore some responsibility for Malta’s current situation.
Malta was placed under enhanced monitoring by the Financial Action Task Force this week, two years after assessors first found myriad flaws and shortcomings in the country’s implementation of its anti-money laundering framework.
Scicluna served as Finance Minister between 2013 and November 2020 before being given the prestigious job of Central Bank governor at the turn of the year.
“Instead of vanishing from the scene, Scicluna was rewarded by being appointed Governor of the Central Bank. Such appointments send a clear message: that there is no seriousness in the leadership of the country,” Cacopardo said.
The party had already called for Scicluna to be held responsible for the FATF decision in the hours after it was first revealed by Times of Malta.
Cacopardo said that the police’s belated moves to prosecute alleged money launderers could not wash away the stain of years of inaction, caused by the fact that “several of its officers were in the pockets of criminals.”
The Labour Party had repeatedly refused to condemn Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri after their offshore dealings were exposed in the Panama Papers, ADPD recalled, resulting in a situation in which parliament “chose to defend white collar crime.”
'PL, PN made Malta a tax evasion centre'
ADPD did not spare the Nationalist Party opposition of criticism, either, saying the two major parties had colluded over the years to
make Malta an “international centre for tax evasion” and further wrecked Malta’s reputation through the sale of citizenship.
“Malta's reputation has been destroyed over the years. The message out there was that government protects financial crime and criminals,” the party said.
ADPD spokesperson Sandra Gauci said that the greylisting decision was unfortunate but expected, and said the government only seemed to act after pressure from international sources, while ignoring criticism and suggestions from Maltese people and organisations.
“It was not necessary for foreign institutions to tell us that things in Malta are not going well. We, amongst others, have been long pointing out that things are amiss in Malta’s financial system and setup,” Gauci said.
She questioned the motivation behind recent reforms to strengthen Malta’s anti-money laundering framework, saying there remained doubts as to whether changes were undertaken to truly fix the system, or simply to placate the international community.
“Unfortunately, the country is used to weak institutions by design,” Gauci said.