Malta Makes Giant FATF Exit Strides
Malta has made significant strides in its attempts to exit the Financial Action Task Force’s grey list. The country could be removed from the list in the next three months if they continue their progress in introducing anti-money laundering regulations.
Malta Could Exit Financial Grey List © Pixabay.
Malta is performing well in its efforts to be removed from the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) grey list of countries.
In its latest report, FATF said that Malta had “substantially completed” the action plan that was put in place to show that the country was serious in its attempts to tackle money laundering and prevent terrorist funding.
The process to remove them from the grey list of countries is for FATF to perform a site visit and independently verify that the action plan has been implemented. FATF will also assess if there is political will in the world’s tenth smallest country to improve its anti-money laundering processes.
Malta has been on FATF’s grey list since June 2021, the exact date Romania was added. At the time, Malta and Romania were the only European countries to be added to the list.
When Malta was added to the grey list, Prime Minister Robert Abela was very public about his anger at the situation, and he called the decision “unfair” and “unjust”. He did, however, pledge that the country would work with FATF to formulate an action plan to escape the sanctioning.
The country’s finance Minister, Clyde Caruna, welcomed the prospect of a visit from FATF and gave his view that the action plan was on track. Saying: “We will continue to do our utmost and will greet FATF assessors in the best way possible.”
After February’s plenary meeting of the FATF, a statement was released regarding Malta.
It said the country had made the following key reforms and said that Malta was continuing: “to demonstrate that beneficial ownership information is accurate and that, where appropriate, effective, proportionate, and dissuasive sanctions, commensurate with the ML/TF risks, are applied to legal persons if information provided is found to be inaccurate; and ensuring that effective, proportionate, and dissuasive sanctions are applied to gatekeepers when they do not comply with their obligations to obtain accurate and up-to-date beneficial ownership information.”
Also stating: “Enhancing the use of the FIU’s financial intelligence to support authorities pursuing criminal tax and related money laundering cases, including by clarifying the roles and responsibilities of the Commissioner for Revenue and the FIU.”
Finally, on the topic of removing the country from the grey list, FATF stated: “increase focus of the FIU’s analysis on these types of offences, to produce intelligence that helps Maltese law enforcement detect and investigate cases in line with Malta’s identified ML risks related to tax evasion. The FATF will continue to monitor the COVID-19 situation and conduct an on-site visit at the earliest possible date.”
Countries on the FATF grey list:
- Albania
- Barbados
- Burkina Faso
- Cambodia
- Cayman Islands
- Haiti
- Jamaica
- Jordan
- Mali
- Malta
- Morocco
- Myanmar
- Nicaragua
- Pakistan
- Panama
- Philippines
- Senegal
- South Sudan
- Syria
- Turkey
- Uganda
- United Arab Emirates
- Yemen
If the visit from FATF goes well, the country could be removed from the organisation’s grey list, which could happen when its next plenary session takes place. The next meeting is scheduled to take place in Berlin, Germany, between 12 and 17 June.
