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Malta: Money laundering probes shoot up by 200 percent

Suspected money laundering cases flagged to the FIAU have skyrocketed as Malta faces international scrutiny. According to an internal government document, the number of suspicious transactions flagged to the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit, Malta’s anti-money laundering watchdog, increased by more than 200% since international scrutiny began some three years ago. Read More

BNF Bank distances itself from former manager facing money laundering charges

BNF Bank has distanced itself from a former manager who faces money laundering charges. Albert Buttigieg has been charged in court together with and ex-footballer Darren Debono’s step-daughter Florinda Sultana, who fronted companies that manage two fish restaurants allegedly involved in laundering money linked to oil… Read More

Malta: Lawyers remain laggards in adopting money laundering risk assessment tools

Only 57% of lawyers had a business risk assessment (BRA) in place last year, placing them last in a list of sectors that includes credit institutions, gaming companies, trust services providers, notaries and accountants. Lawyers remained laggards in a league table of sectors obliged to have a business risk assessment,… Read More

12th April 2021

New CSP regulations will help weed out bad apples, MFSA official says

Amendments to the Corporate Service Provider regulations will help weed out any bad apples from the system, Emily Benson, the Malta Financial Services Authority’s (MFSA) Head of Conduct Supervision told The Malta Independent on Sunday. Benson was part of the team that spearheaded the new Company Services Providers (CSPs) regulations… Read More

12th April 2021

Malta’s controversial fundraising rules for NGOs being watered down

Controversial rules that are meant to tackle financial crime in the voluntary sector will be watered down following an outcry by NGOs. Government sources told Times of Malta that a list of changes will be drafted to the rules introduced to combat money laundering within the voluntary sector. The regulations… Read More

7th April 2021

Lawyers, accountants face tougher rules, higher costs to act as company directors

An army of warranted professionals in Malta – accountants, auditors, lawyers and notaries – are balking at new rules removing their exemption from onerous authorisation by the financial regulator (MFSA) to act as company officers. The pressure on Malta to tighten up its corporate governance rules by the Council of… Read More

5th April 2021

Keith Schembri and associates awarded bail

Keith Schembri and his associates have been granted bail by the court but will only be released from prison tomorrow. The former OPM chief of staff will be released from Corradino Correctional Facility on Tuesday against a €60,000 deposit and a €90,000 personal guarantee. Bail was offered to Malcolm Scerri… Read More

30th March 2021

Malta: Reforms to the company services provider sector are now in force

The company service providers (amendment) act, 2020 (referred to as the ‘amendment act’ in the following text) came into force on March 16, 2021, by virtue of Legal Notice 96 of 2021. It serves to amend the provisions of the company services providers act, chapter 529 of the Laws of… Read More

30th March 2021

Malta: Alleged fuel smuggler paid auditor’s hefty FIAU fine, court told

An alleged fuel smuggler paid a hefty FIAU fine issued to his accountant who stands charged with money laundering, a court heard on Monday. Auditor Chris Baldacchino stands accused of having been the brains behind the laundering of illicit funds for an organised crime group allegedly involved in a €30million… Read More

30th March 2021

Money trail from Daphne murder probe stretches to China

A widening investigation into allegations of high-level corruption on the island of Malta, first levelled by murdered journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, stretches to China and a $400 million investment into Europe by a Chinese state power company, Reuters has found. Caruana Galizia was murdered in October 2017 as she investigated… Read More

29th March 2021

Malta heading towards ‘all-clear’ from Moneyval

Malta’s anti-money laundering regime has been given the thumbs up by Moneyval ahead of a final vote set for next month. The decision means Malta could avoid measures which would have had major repercussions on the country’s financial services sector. A Council of Europe anti-money laundering expert committee, known as… Read More

26th March 2021

Malta’s FinServices sector left reeling in wake of high-profile arrests on money laundering charges

Malta’s business community is in turmoil following recent damning developments in the investigation of Daphne Caruana Galizia’s assassination, the outgoing president of the Malta Chamber of Commerce said. David Xuereb told sister newspaper BusinessToday this morning that the arrest and incarceration of a number of prominent individuals – including… Read More

22nd March 2021

Keith Schembri, ex-aide to former Malta PM, charged with corruption

A top aide to former Maltese prime minister Joseph Muscat accused of graft by journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, whose brutal murder rocked the nation, was charged on Saturday with money laundering and fraud. Anti-corruption campaigners hailed the prosecution of Keith Schembri as a vindication of the work of… Read More

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