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2 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 19 FEBRUARY 2020 NEWS MATTHEW VELLA MALTA'S score in the Financial Secrecy Index has deteriorated to push the island further up its top-20 ranking for the world's most secretive financial jurisdictions. Malta climbed from 20th in 2018 to 18th in the 2020 index published by the anti-tax avoidance NGO Tax Justice Network – the higher the ranking, the more secretive a country's tax practices are. Although accounting for just 0.66% of the global market for offshore financial servic- es according to TJN, Malta remains a small player compared to other secrecy jurisdic- tions. It scored 62 points, where a 100 is repre- sents full secrecy, which is calculated on 20 indicators. But it was the Cayman Islands that leap- frogged to worst offender in 2020, followed by the United States which overtook Swit- zerland in the global ranking of countries most complicit in helping individuals to hide their finances from the rule of law. The top 10 biggest enablers of financial se- crecy in the world currently are: 1. Cayman Islands 2. United States 3. Switzerland 4. Hong Kong 5. Singapore 6. Luxembourg 7. Japan 8. Netherlands 9. British Virgin Islands 10. United Arab Emirates The Financial Secrecy Index ranks each country based on how intensely the coun- try's legal and financial system allows wealthy individuals and criminals to hide and launder money extracted from around the world. The UK increased its secrecy score more than any other country. The UK's financial secrecy escalation extended to its network of satellite jurisdictions to which the UK outsources some of its financial secrecy activity. Often referred to as the UK spi- der's web, the network is made up of Over- seas Territories and Crown Dependencies where the UK has full powers to impose or veto lawmaking, and where powers to ap- point key government officials rest with the British Crown. At the centre of the network is the City of London, which receives and launders wealth brought in by the satellite jurisdictions. The UK's spider's web included some of the highest-ranking jurisdictions on the Fi- nancial Secrecy index, including Cayman, which ranked first on the Financial Secre- cy Index, the British Virgin Islands which ranked 9th and Guernsey which ranked 11th. If the UK and its network of Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies were treated as a single entity, this UK spider's web would rank first on the index. John Christensen, a director and founder of the Tax Justice Network, said: "The UK showed the world true leadership in 2016 by being the first country to adopt a public beneficial ownership register – now that progress has been thrown in reverse. The UK's surge up the Financial Secrecy In- dex raises serious concerns about the UK's post-Brexit strategy to turn the City of Lon- don into a 'Singapore-on-Thames'. This should be particularly concerning for EU countries, which collectively reduced their supply of financial secrecy to the world by 8 per cent while the UK escalated its supply by 26 per cent. "A more secretive and poorly regulated City of London is bad news for everybody, including people in the UK. Evidence shows that the UK's oversized financial sector cost the UK economy £4.5 trillion in lost economic output between 1995 and 2015 – equivalent to £67,500 for every person in the UK.9 A post-Brexit 'Singapore-on-Thames' strategy would see more money extracted from people in Brit- ain and the rest of world to the pockets of the very wealthiest." Alex Cobham, chief executive at the Tax Justice Network, said: "The world has start- ed to win the fight against financial secrecy, and that's good news for everybody. Finan- cial secrecy has kept drug cartels bankable, tax abuse feasible and human trafficking profitable - but the majority of countries are now making it clear that this is not the world we want. Creating a fair world that treats all members of society as equals means reprogramming our financial and tax systems to run on transparency, not secrecy, making it impossible for criminals and elites to go uncounted and making sure countries are well-resourced and well-gov- erned to support everyone to lead a mean- ingful and fulfilling life. We still have a lot of work to do ahead - our governments must keep their foot to the pedal." Malta creeps up top 20 ranking for most secretive tax regimes NATIONALIST MP Jason Azzopar- di has alleged that there is a sinister reason why Joseph Muscat had called an early election in 2017, a year be- fore his term had been due to end. Azzopardi said that the revela- tions which emerged in the past months from the investigation into Daphne Caruana Galizia's murder had been shocking, but that the rea- son behind Muscat calling an early election would be even more of a shock. Former prime minister Muscat had announced on 1 May 2017 that a snap election would be held the following month, on 3 June. The reason given for this was that it was meant to settle political uncertainty which emerged from Caruana Gal- izia's claims that Egrant was owned by Muscat's wife, Michelle Muscat. Azzopardi, who was speaking in Parliament on Tuesday during a debate on the new method for ap- pointing the police commissioner, said that the reason for the early election "is much more serious than people think". The PN MP, who is a lawyer to the Caruana Galizia family in the ongoing murder case and public inquiry, said that "Ix-Xiħ (Joseph Muscat) was very worried. He had a lot about which to be worried." Azzopardi also made reference to Muscat's use of his private jo- sephmuscat.com email address - a matter also brought up in court yes- terday during the public inquiry in- to the Caruana Galizia murder. "When the moment comes, we will know why Muscat, right up until the last days he was prime minister, kept using his private email address for government work," he said. "There is a reason for using a pri- vate email for government work - not to leave a trace. And you will get to know why Muscat used his private email." Azzopardi added that he was chal- lenging Prime Minister Robert Ab- ela to enact a law which would make it a criminal offence for a public of- ficial to use his or her private email for their government job. Jason Azzopardi: 'People will be shocked when they learn why Muscat called early election' Jason Azzopardi