Updated Sunday 11.20am, adds Accountancy Board reply

MEP David Casa has accused the accountancy regulator of bringing the whole profession into disrepute through its inaction against Nexia BT’s Brian Tonna and Karl Cini.

In a letter sent to accountancy board chairman Peter Baldacchino, Mr Casa claimed recent revelations had shown the “money laundering structures” created by Nexia BT were at the centre of the motive to assassinate Daphne Caruana Galizia.

The board has declined to take any action against the pair pending the outcome of various magisterial inquiries.

Nexia BT has received over €1 million in government contracts, with Mr Tonna counting himself as a friend of the prime minister’s former chief of staff Keith Schembri.

A leaked report from the FIAU concluded Mr Tonna passed on a €100,000 “kickback” on passport sales to Mr Schembri. A magisterial inquiry into the FIAU’s findings was launched in 2017 after then Opposition leader Simon Busuttil accused the police of sitting on the report.

Judge Aaron Bugeja had ordered a police investigation into Mr Cini for lying under oath in the Egrant inquiry about the offshore structures set up by Nexia BT and exposed in the Panama Papers.

“Regulatory bodies choosing to protect criminals rather than do their duty are part of the reason we find ourselves in this mess today,” Mr Casa said in the strongly worded letter.

The MEP likened Mr Tonna and Mr Cini to Jürgen Mossack and Ramón Fonseca, the owners of the now defunct Panama law firm Mossack Fonseca, which was at the heart of the Panama Papers leak.

He urged the board to stand with the members of the accountancy profession.

Mr Casa said the board’s inaction had been detrimental to the reputation of the “serious professionals working in this field and to Malta as a whole”.

The PN MEP has in the past blasted the board for its “dereliction of duty” over its failure to act against Nexia BT.

Board chairman Mr Baldacchino has previously maintained that the regulator could not publicise its every move.

He insisted the board has always acted when needed. Questions sent to the board were not answered by the time of writing.

In contrast to the apparent lack of action by the accountancy regulator, Mr Tonna and Mr Cini opted to resign from the Malta Institute of Accountants in 2017 to avoid having their membership of the accountancy lobby revoked after disciplinary proceedings were initiated.

Accountancy Board's reply

The Accountancy Board said in a reply that in its reply to the letter sent by Mr Casa, it communicated that matters relating to investigations it may conduct were confidential and it could not, at this stage, give any information confirming or denying any measures relating to matters he raised. 

It said it would publish on its official website any administrative sanction imposed for breach of the provisions of the Accountancy Profession Act, the regulations made under it or directives, or of the audit regulation in respect of which all rights of appeal have been exhausted or have expired.

It would do this as soon as it was reasonably practicable immediately after the person sanctioned would have been informed of that decision, including information concerning the type and nature of the breach and the identity of the natural or legal person on whom the sanction was imposed.

When the Board conducted routine quality assurance reviews of auditors of public-interest entities as mandated by law, the findings of such reviews remained confidential according to law, though any eventual sanctions imposed on auditors were published on the board’s website.

This notwithstanding, the board said, it passed and was passing on the contents of Mr Casa’s communications to other relevant competent authorities for any action they might deem appropriate.