Malta's courts remain the slowest in Europe to close money laundering cases, taking around three years to close off suits, fresh figures issued by the European Commission show.
According to the EU Justice Scoreboard 2022, which presents an annual overview of efficiency, quality, and independence of justice systems across the EU, Malta's court took over 1,200 days to close money laundering cases in 2019. Data for 2020 and 2021 was not included.
The country's rate was the highest when compared to the rest of Europe and was notably higher than the 900 days registered by Slovenia, which had the second slowest rate.
Malta's court delays have often come under fire from the EU, with the Commission flagging the issue as being of "serious concern" in a rule of law report published almost a year ago, in July 2021.
At the time, the government had said the Commission had welcomed the reforms its was implementing to strengthen the independence of the justice system, particularly the reform of the system of judicial appointments and that of judicial discipline.
"In addition to contributing to the fight against crime, the effectiveness of the fight against money laundering is crucial for the soundness, integrity and stability of the financial sector, confidence in the financial system and fair competition in the single market," the Commission said in its scoreboard.
Despite still being the slowest to close money laundering cases, Malta's courts have registered an improvement. In 2018, the year prior to that in review, courts took around 2,200 days - around six years - to close money laundering proceedings.
The scoreboard also confirmed Malta's courts were the slowest to resolve administrative cases in 2020, taking around 900 days to close proceedings.
Malta's system was also exceptionally slow when dealing with cases related to competition law, taking a whopping 3,400 days to close proceedings, the highest rate in Europe by a wide margin.
Government reacts
In a statement on Friday, the Justice Ministry noted that because of the COVID-19 pandemic, courts were not operating for "a good part of the year".
"However, Malta registered a decrease in the pending caseload in litigious civil and commercial cases, as well as a decrease in the length of proceedings of money laundering cases when compared to 2019," the government said.
The scoreboard does not include data on the length of proceedings of money laundering cases for 2020, with the lastest figures included by the Commission being for 2019.
"The Ministry for Justice welcomes the publication of the EU JS 22 with a sense of commitment to improve the efficiency of justice and reaffirms its mandate to help justice transition to a more digitalised era, improve its accessibility, and promote public confidence in the justice system.
"The ministry acknowledges the efforts of all stakeholders, particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic, and looks forward to furthering the cooperation with them in the coming years."
It added that as pledged in the electoral manifesto, the government is committed to "addressing the efficiency of justice by implementing new landmark reforms".