Former Prime Minister Alfred Sant has called for anti-money laundering measures to be implemented in full by all across the board, and those who have difficulties in catching up with ongoing reforms, should be helped to do so.

In an explanation of his vote in favour of a resolution by the European Parliament on the state of implementation of the European Union’s anti-money laundering legislation, Dr Sant said that abolition of capital controls opened the doors for money laundering and globalisation multiplied the opportunities for it.

He stressed that anti-money laundering legislation is more complex than capital controls and is intended to extinguish money laundering. However, it still seemed to be lagging behind it, conceptually and in the implementation of measures.

“When the financial services sector undergoes a significant expansion, the difficulties are compounded, especially if a substantial part of the industry was intermediated by small operators as is the case for Malta”, said Dr Sant.

Referring to the recent Moneyval report, Dr Sant stated that, while identifying weaknesses, it highlighted that Malta had a sound legal framework to address money laundering issues.

He said that the Maltese government is committed to implementing all Moneyval recommendations.

Dr Sant added that a national anti-money laundering strategy is in place in Malta and is being strengthened not least by allocating significant new resources to it.