Robert Abela was understandably euphoric when Malta was removed from the Financial Action Task Force’s list of untrustworthy jurisdictions. Malta, he told journalists, “stands as an example to other jurisdictions”.
He spoke too soon. Within less than a month, his government would face heavy criticism from three institutions – the European Commission, the European Parliament’s civil liberties, justice and home affairs committee (LIBE) and the Maltese superior court – that left the prime minister badly bruised.
They all but completely demolished his talk of an exemplary jurisdiction.
The FATF found that Malta had made “significant progress” and “strengthened the effectiveness” of its anti-money laundering regime to combat the “strategic deficiencies” flagged last year. It did say, however, that it had more work to do.
In fact, while acknowledging that some…
