The United Arab Emirates has finally received a complete request from the Maltese authorities for information on Yorgen Fenech's secret company 17 Black, according to an MEP.
David Casa said the request for data on the Dubai-based company was received on August 24 and called for an investigation into the delay.
It will allow the United Arab Emirate authorities to transfer information through official channels, vital for the prosecution of those involved in the "high-level corruption and money laundering" associated with 17 Black, he said.
Last year Times of Malta reported how police had failed to get evidence from the secret company because of a botched request.
"It is shameful that it has taken this long to get this right," Casa said.
"The Maltese authorities should have ensured that the correct request for this information was submitted immediately following the revelations. Instead, incomplete requests were sent, and lack of progress was justified with the claim that Dubai was uncooperative.”
Two years ago a Times of Malta and Reuters investigation unmasked Fenech, then a director of the Electrogas power station, as the owner of 17 Black.
The company was named in leaked e-mails as one of two companies that would pay $2 million to the former prime minister's chief of staff Keith Schembri's and then energy minister Konrad Mizzi's Panama companies.
Journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia was investigating the story before she was killed in a car bomb. Fenech has since been charged with complicity in her murder.
Casa said he has been working to ensure the transfer of information from the UAE for the past two years.
In August, he testified told the public inquiry into Caruana Galizia's murder that he received information from Dubai rubbishing claims made by Maltese officials that the UAE authorities were not cooperating in the investigation on 17 Black.
“The complete request that was just submitted raises serious questions on the veracity of evidence given under oath by members of the Maltese police force. The circumstances that allowed a complete request to be delayed for so long must be investigated,” he said.
Casa encouraged the UAE authorities to transfer the requested information as soon as possible, and said that once the information is shared, the Maltese authorities made sure justice was not delayed any longer.
“I will continue to monitor developments very closely,” Casa said.