Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1360420
Peter Agius 12 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 11 APRIL 2021 OPINION A few guys went to a pricy restaurant. They had it all. Lobster, steak, caviar with the best wine of the house, and they broke a few glasses too. When it was time to pay, they left the bill for us. That's the situation with the impending Moneyval assessment. And mind you, we're already paying that bill. For while all of us are concerned with the real risk of grey-listing and the consequent asphyxiation of Maltese financial services under a truckload of additional bureaucra- cy, the noose has already closed very tight to conform to the nine Moneyval criteria. While the FIAU was missing in action as Panama Papers and Daphne Caruana Galizia drew the crime board for them, they went overdrive after that. Not with Pilatus, Nexia BT or on Keith Schembri's world wide web of secret companies, but on the local butcher, the family invest- ment enterprise and on lawyers, estate agents and accountants down the road. Three years after failing to cast its net to catch the sharks, the FIAU net is now catch- ing the minnows. Money laundering rules which were designed for such sharks have now become a daily concern for all of the good willing which were never meant to be within their remit. According to news reports, Government has now received the Moneyval assess- ment draft which should go for decision by the Financial Action Task Force to decide on the grey-listing. Whatever the outcome, a propaganda ploy is already in place. If it's negative they will shift the blame on others. If it is positive, they plan to come out as the saviours of the Maltese economy. They won't fool us. For all those in the industry know that they already paid the price for their ex- cesses. The politics that was supposed to advance public good ended up the biggest threat to the public good. The gradual increase of compliance rules and scrutiny over the last two years to avert Moneyval has already rendered a whole series of services unprofitable for the smaller Maltese businesses. A whole generation who looked up with ambition to a career in financial services find their prospects re-examined, down- wards. They spent early morning hours revising notes or writing assignments to strengthen their qualifications. Now they find them- selves working in an environment where they have to commit double the hours for the same money or less. Opening a bank account for a client has become a saga of repeated due diligence and double anal- ysis of source of funds. Cross-bor- der transaction reporting has be- come a matter for heightened anxi- ety under pain of hefty fines even for a mistake in good- faith. Oh yes, good faith is gone. That was a thing before labour. What used to be possible with a team of three people , register- ing companies, handling accounts and attracting cli- ents, is now tak- ing four or five. So while we cross fingers to avoid the grey-listing we must take stock that we already are in a lighter shade of grey. The assessment of the Financial Action Task Force should take this into account. What is under the hammer is no longer the abuse of power and blatant cor- ruption by top government actors, but the fate and livelihood of thousands of Mal- tese professionals and others depending on them. The latter are already paying the price. It would be ridiculous to make them pay an even higher price. What needs to be paid still is the political price for leading us here. We had the goose laying the golden eggs, and we put it in per- il with negligence and abuse. The Labour government still needs to give account for all of this. It is us, not the FATF, which will need to ask for our pound of flesh! Bill paid for Moneyval Peter Agius is a PN MEP candidate and EU expert kellimni@peteragius.eu Inclusion in absolute terms WHAT used to be the issue of inclu- sion is hopefully a non-issue in 21st Century society thinking, but there is obviously a lot that still needs to be done. For far too long it had been taken for granted and thrown in be- tween long lists of electoral promis- es which silently, but not suprising- ly, faded away with the end of the hustings. We seek to proceed in a much more determined way, as Labour's track record since the change of government in 2013 after all shows. Malta has since happily entered the stage where inclusion is referred to and treated in absolute terms. De- termination alone, however, is not enough, as it needs to be convert- ed into real and proper action that serves, rightfully and adequately, all Maltese citizens in all sectors of the population. The agreement signed last week between SportMalta and Special Olympics Malta is a case in point. Not only does it provide a vastly-im- proved financial package - €420,000 over a period of three years – to Special Olympics Malta, now pre- sided over by Dr Lydia Abela, but it paves the way for a more dedicated and effective Maltese participation at the World Special Olympics and overseas training camps, as well as facilitating the on-going acquisition of kits and equipment. The agreement is highly significant given it is a timely boost to the work and preparations already in motion towards the 2022 World Special Olympics which Malta, one of the smallest states on the globe, will be hosting on behalf of its athletes with a disability. Even more significant is that it sends out the message of Malta's recognised commitment to social in- clusion in all spheres of life, includ- ing of course the world of sports. It will be our nation's proud confir- mation that persons with a disabil- ity can and should be accorded the opportunity to be our ambassadors in every type of sporting events, and to be protagonists in the search for world peace, love and inclusion. The 2022 event amplifies this gov- ernment's keen sense of direction in the field of social inclusion, offering a strategic and committed share in the work of our devoted sporting associations, federations and NGOs within which a parallel, positive transformation is also taking place. The successes chalked by Malta's Special Olympics athletes at local and international fora contribute hugely towards the development of this new thinking, meeting challeng- es and reaching targets as part of an even stronger national awareness. The agreement contract signed with Special Olympics Malta last week was yet another important lap in the pursuit of more and even bet- ter objectives that focus on the rap- id establishment of a genuinely and palpably inclusive society. The same automatically applies to the National Autism Strategy for the period 2021-2030 the public consultation process for which was launched at the very start of this new month which, not incidentally, is internationally dedicated to au- tism. It is highly satisfactory to note that there have already been 116 public submissions thus far in the consultation process. Addressing autism, a develop- mental disability that can pose sig- nificant social, communicative and behavioural challenges, is another prerequisite we intend to take the whole way. Themed "Respecting Di- versity – Protecting Equality", the proposed strategy is the result of a comprehensive initial process of consultation with local and foreign stakeholders aimed at making sure it will reflect the established reali- ties of this condition. No less significantly, this Maltese strategy comes out as quite unique when compared to others in the world. Its "cradle-to-grave" ap- proach offers a much wider perspec- tive as it covers more than just the medical aspect, or specifically adults or children. It is expressly meant to provide a wider range of assistance and support over a disabled person's lifetime, hence also treating both autism and old age as related real- ities in this vastly researched phe- nomenon. Autistic persons deserve an equal share in society as the rest of all Maltese citizens, and are entitled to the same rights, needs and respon- sibilities which collectively equate with the principles of inclusion and quality of life. This is, indeed, inclusion in ab- solute terms, as witnessed and ac- knowledged in last week's two sig- nificant events. Julia Farrugia- Portelli is Minister for Inclusion and Social Wellbeing Julia Farrugia-Portelli While all of us are concerned with the real risk of grey-listing and the consequent asphyxiation of Maltese financial services under a truckload of additional bureaucracy, the noose has already closed very tight to conform to the nine Moneyval criteria