Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/789855
WWW.MALTATODAY.COM.MT WEDNESDAY EDITION €1.00 Newspaper post PAGE 9 • Editorial PAGE 2 WEDNESDAY • 22 FEBRUARY 2017 • ISSUE 510 • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY 2131 2020 I bov.com Issued by Bank of Valletta p.l.c. 58, Triq San Żakkarija, Il-Belt Valletta VLT 1130 BOV INVESTMENT FUNDS your success is our goal BOV Investment Funds Past performance is not necessarily a guide to future performance. The value of the investment can go down as well as up. Investments should be based on the full details of the Prospectus, Offering Supplement and the Key Investor Information Document which may be obtained from BOV Asset Management Limited, Bank of Valletta p.l.c. Branches/Investment Centres and other Licensed Financial Intermediaries. BOV Asset Management Limited is licensed to provide Investment Services in Malta by the MFSA. The BOV Investment Funds is a common contractual fund licenced by the MFSA as a collective investment scheme pursuant to the Investment Services Act and the UCITS Directive. Issued by BOV Asset Management Limited, registered address 58, Triq San Żakkarija, Il-Belt Valletta VLT 1130. Tel: 21227311, Fax: 22755661, Email: infoassetmanagement@bov.com, Website: www.bovassetmanagement.com.mt. Source: BOV Asset Management Limited German MEP Sven Giegold: Where's Panamagate police investigation? Panama a 'textbook case of money laundering', MEP says over puzzling absence of police investigation MATTHEW VELLA IT is almost 12 months to the day Panamagate became the Labour government's indelible scandal, and MEPs leaving Malta after a mara- thon session of meetings with jour- nalists, ministers, financial services practitioners and tax authorities are scratching their heads. One German MEP, Sven Giegold, who belongs to the Green Group in the European Parliament, is sat beside Alternattiva Demokratika leader Arnold Cassola giving a run- down of the day's meetings. "It looks like it's too early to draw a conclusion on what still seems to be a textbook case of money laun- dering," Giegold says of the former energy minister Konrad Mizzi's Panama set-up – a secret offshore company whose ownership was vested in an offshore New Zealand trust. His auditors said it would be the vehicle for business earnings; Mizzi denies this and on Monday insisted with MEPs it was a family wealth trust. "We are not judges," Giegold says of the committee of MEPs who are inquiring into the application of money laundering rules in Malta. "And we have to take into consid- eration the presumption of inno- cence. The documents show that the trust was set up for a recycling business and remote gaming busi- ness, rather than to administer family wealth. Mizzi was not very convincing that this trust was not intended for a business. "But where is the proof that the Nationalist Party is saying that this is most corrupt government," Gie- gold then asks, momentarily calling for the examination of the evidence at hand. "From a German culture stand- point, the boldness of the statement by [Nationalist MP] Beppe Fenech Adami is puzzling… if you allege corruption, you must substantiate that kind of claim." Sven Giegold Security forces to be given 'more resources' to investigate car bombings YANNICK PACE HOME affairs minister Carmelo Abela has said that following Mon- day's car-bomb attack in Msida, ad- ditional resources will be given to se- curity services, for them to be better equipped for dealing with the threat to national security posed by organ- ised crime. Monday's attack was the eight- eenth bomb attack since 2010, and although most of the attacks are linked to smuggling of diesel, drug feuds and usury, several cases re- main under investigation. None of the car-bomb explosions of recent years has been solved, leav- ing many wondering whether the police force has the capabilities to solve these crimes. "We have already started allocating resources to the security forces and we will continue to do so, including human resources," said Abela. He said that a number of additions had been made to the police force, most notably in the squad investigat- ing bomb attacks. In addition to this, Abela also said that legislative changes could be introduced to facilitate the police's work. He said that this would be done by studying which laws need to be improved, especially those "hin- dering" investigations into organ- ised crime. Abela would not be drawn into whether any of the new measures would include wire-tapping, or the removal of the right to a lawyer dur- ing the interrogation in cases related to organised crime. Moreover, while reaffirming his confidence in Malta's police force, he did not exclude the possibility the police receiving further training and support from abroad. PAGE 8 Home affairs minister Carmelo Abela