Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri has refused to comment on whether FBI agents have come to Malta as part of an alleged special money investigation by the US domestic intelligence and security service. 

Lovin Malta sought a comment from Camilleri during a press conference yesterday. However, Camilleri refused to speak on the topic and went on to clarify that he will not comment on any ongoing investigations.

Rumours that the FBI has launched a special money-laundering investigation on Malta emerged from a blogpost of a former-money-launderer-turned-FBI informant, Kenneth Rijock.

Rijock works as a financial crime consultant and a compliance officer specialising in enhanced due diligence. He runs his own blog focusing on financial crime, and his eyes have recently turned to Malta and former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat. 

He says FBI agents have been on the ground in Malta for weeks, that the US is seeking to extradite Muscat and that the former Prime Minister is also being accused of Providing Material Support to a Designated Terrorist Organization. He’s said that current cabinet members are cooperating with the investigation.

Rijock also claimed Muscat is exercising power over the current Cabinet by handing them proceeds of corruption, often in cash, and that Muscat used a trip to Miami, where Rijock himself is based, to head off to a Caribbean country to deposit illicit cash.

Earlier this week, Rijock also alleged that the Unita di Informazione Finanziaria per l’Italia probe involves financial transactions conducted in Italy that are linked to Muscat. Muscat has vociferously denied all claims.

The US Embassy of Malta has refused to comment, telling Lovin Malta the FBI maintains a standard of practice of neither confirming nor denying any investigation.

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