Malta’s efforts to clean up its reputation following various high-profile incidents reported in the international media have been escalated.
A new police commissioner has been appointed, the notorious sale-of-passports scheme replaced by a new and less opaque one, new resources have been given to the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit and tighter oversight is being conducted by the Malta Financial Services Authority. All this indicates a new determination to combat financial crime.
But the government needs to do more to convince sceptical international organisations fighting financial crime that these changes are enough to restore trust in Maltese financial regulators and anti-money laundering agencies.
The close relationship between rogues in business and equally corrupt political crooks has been suspected for some time. Now it has been mercilessly exposed in the pre-trial court hearings relating to the assassination of a journalist who wrote about the corrupt practices in the highest echelons of business and government.
The outgoing US embassy Chargé d’Affaires, Mark Schapiro, gave a very candid interview to this newspaper as his three-year assignment in Malta draws to an end. Among other things, he highlights what still needs to be done to ensure that Malta avoids the grey list of Moneyval.
The unfinished business to clean Malta’s reputation mainly relates to ensuring that action does indeed follow the declarations of intent and the administrative changes connected with the anti-money laundering strategy.
Schapiro rightly points out that Moneyval greylisting is not inevitable since this anti-money laundering watchdog’s decision “will be determined by many variables”. One crucial variable will undoubtedly be the perception that international organisations have on the government’s political will to bring to justice those who commit financial crimes.
Speeding up the judicial process is one good starting point. While the wheels of justice are often notoriously slow, allowing this limitation to prevent the sanctioning of financial criminals is an admission of defeat or dereliction of duty by those responsible for an effective judicial system.
The beefing up of criminal investigation resources is another variable that should result in more convictions of criminals who try to exploit the inefficiencies in the police force and other law enforcement agencies. The perception that Malta is not sufficiently determined to eradicate financial crime is partly due to the almost complete failure to prosecute any suspected financial criminals.
Gaps in local investigative expertise can be bridged by enlisting the support of international organisations like Europol who can make the war against crime that much more effective. Suspected criminals are not all that difficult to identify if the police keep a close eye on their lifestyles.
Who can blame those who believe that in the last several years, Malta has suffered from state capture? Rogue business people bought their way into the corridors of power by corrupting public officials and politicians at a time when the checks and balances that should have made this abuse less likely failed.
The oil purchase scandal, the granting of the management of three public hospitals to an inexperienced operator, and the setting up by Enemalta of a windfarm in Montenegro are just a few of the incidents that reinforce the perception of Malta’s reluctance to combat financial crime.
While some changes have been made since the beginning of the year, much more action-centred tactics are needed to restore Malta’s reputation in the eyes of local citizens and international institutions.