OPM Chief of Staff Keith Schembri was present during a meeting Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and Justice Minister Owen Bonnici jhad with a European Parliament delegation at the PM's office in Castille.
At the start of the meeting, which was open to the media for the first minutes, MEP Ana Gomes mentioned that Malta has not implemented the 4th Anti-money laundering directive. She also mentioned politically exposed persons mentioned in the Panama Papers during the meeting with Prime Minister Joseph Muscat. She said that there are various reports and prosecutions have not yet taken place.
She said that Malta is also one of the countries also blocking the 5th anti-money laundering directive due to transparency of beneficiaries.
She mentioned that the MEPs had the opportunity to speak with civil society, and the feeling that too many powers are centralised in the executive, and spoke of separation of powers being essential.
Prime Minister Joseph Muscat on his part said that a lot of information the MEPs were given were partial and one-sided resulting in a misunderstanding of the Maltese justice system.
He mentioned that the media in Malta is highly politicised. He said that since government has nothing to hide they are meeting with the MEPS.
Turning to the Daphne Caruana Galizia murder, he said that he was unable to provide information about it, given the letter sent to the Home Affairs Minister by the Caruana Galizia family. He said that government is leaving no stone unturned, and has called in help from foreign authorities such as Europol.
On the 4th anti-money laundering directive, he said it is being discussed in Parliament. He went on to mention a number of government reforms, including the whistleblower act, the removal of time barring for cases of corruption, etc.
from The Malta Independent http://ift.tt/2AiN2Hi
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