‘We Will Get Malta Off The Grey List’: Robert Abela Confirms FATF Action Plan Completed
Malta has completed its action plan to get off the Financial Action Task Force’s infamous grey list, Prime Minister Robert Abela has announced.
“We worked our utmost in recent months to complete the action plan, we completed the action plan and the process with the FATF is proceeding satisfactorily,” Abela said in an interview on Xtra today.
“I can give positive news about it but I must be cautious because the worst possible course of action would be to take up the Opposition Leader’s narrative, to arrogantly tell the FATF that Malta will get off the greylist three months after he becomes Prime Minister. That is a guarantee that you won’t get off the grey list.”
“We will get Malta off the grey list, but arrogantly giving a date only shows he doesn’t know how the system works… as though Bernard Grech decides when the FATF holds its plenaries and organises technical visits. It shows how amateur he is.”
Abela strongly criticised Grech for sending the FATF a letter the eve before Malta’s greylisting last year in which he pledged that a future PN government will restore Malta’s reputation.
“I’ve never seen an Opposition working so cruelly against the national interest,” he warned.
Malta has been on the grey list since June 2020, with the international anti-money laundering watchdog flagging three main concerns – accuracy of beneficial company ownership information, enhancing the financial intelligence to support authorities pursuing criminal tax and related money laundering cases, and increasing the focus of the FIAU’s analysis on these types of offenses.
Last October, FATF president Marcus Pleyer said that while Malta was making “good progress” in its implementation of the action plan, more work remains.
In today’s interview, Abela acknowledged that regulatory changes to get off the grey list caused burdens to businesses, particularly with regards to banking, but confidently predicted that the situation will improve.
“We were at an extreme with zero regulation, and when adjusting it, the probability is that we went to the other extreme. Now we must calibrate it and maintain a balance to ensure that businesses can work smoothly and that Malta can pass the FATF test and be good examples to others.”
“There was discomfort in the banking sector but the Opposition predicted and wanted a disaster. However, the European Commission predicted that our economy will be the fastest-growing out of the EU this year and our gaming sector grew by 2,000 jobs last year.”
Have you been impacted by Malta’s greylisting? Let us know in the comment section
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