Five cases of terrorism financing were flagged to the police for further investigation last year, far above the norm, the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit’s (FIAU) annual report shows.
Analysis by the FIAU found a reasonable suspicion of terrorism financing activities involving Malta, leading to five reports being sent to the police.
No details about the cases were made available in the FIAU’s annual report due to secrecy restrictions.
Last year appeared to be a record one for the unit in the fight against terrorism financing.
Its last three annual reports prior to 2018 show one suspected case of terrorist financing was sent to the police annually since 2015.
A memorandum of understanding was signed between the sanctions monitoring board, the FIAU, the Malta Financial Services Authority and the Malta Gaming Authority in 2018 to improve cooperation in the monitoring of financial service providers and other entities on the frontline of preventing money-laundering and terrorism financing activities.
No known prosecutions have been made by the police as a result of the reports sent to it by the FIAU.
New team focusing on money-laundering cases
Questions sent to the police about the progress on the suspected terrorism financing cases flagged to the Police Commissioner last year by the FIAU were not answered by the time of writing.
Police investigations of reports sent to it by the FIAU often result in a lengthy process, as the intelligence it receives from the unit has to be confirmed and translated into evidence that will hold up in court.
The European Commission has urged Malta to beef up its economic crimes unit, which is charged with investigating money-laundering and terrorism financing activities.
Police CEO Angelo Gafa told Times of Malta in March that the unit has been split into two, with a new team focusing solely on money-laundering cases.
A spate of terrorist attacks across Europe over the past years has sparked renewed efforts by the EU to crackdown on terrorism financing.
EU Security Union Commissioner Julian King in February heralded a political agreement facilitating the sharing of financial information to make it easier for law enforcement agencies to crack down on the financing of terrorism.