Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1386209
3 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 23 JUNE 2021 NEWS Are you interested in expressive arts? Applications open between 15 June to 12 July 2021, until noon local time Visit myscholarship.gov.mt for more details. Scholarships Unit Ministry for Education Freephone: 153 visit www.myscholarship.gov.mt for further information CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 "The FATF is a technical body and its internal discussions are confidential. We cannot provide further informa- tion about discussions taking place this week," the FATF replied. When asked for the voting procedure, FATF referred this newspaper to the mandate granted in 2019 by the minis- terial declaration. The ministerial declaration states: "The plenary is the decision-making body of the FATF. Its decisions are tak- en by consensus." The organisation, which serves as a watchdog against money laundering and terrorist financing, is currently run by the German presidency. The plenary is meeting virtually this week and will conclude on Friday. A decision on Malta is expected today af- ternoon. Finance Minister Clyde Caruana has expressed disappointment that despite clearing the anti-money laundering Moneyval test last month, "some coun- tries" were still pushing for Malta to be grey-listed. A senior source within one of the is- land's regulatory authorities said it was "unfortunate that the decision-making process had taken a political twist". He insisted that Malta had implemented all the technical and legal recommenda- tions made by Moneyval. The sentiment was reflected by finan- cial services practitioners. In a state- ment yesterday, the Institute of Finan- cial Services Practitioners (IFSP) said Malta made substantial progress over the past years to address concerns about the effectiveness of its anti-money laun- dering regime. "The IFSP and its members expect that the demonstrable improvements made by the country will form the basis for any decisions taken by FATF as it de- liberates whether to place Malta under increased monitoring (the grey list) or not," the organisation said. READ ALSO The grey list and the election: Abela's choices PAGES 4 & 5 KARL AZZOPARDI THE police are refusing to di- vulge further details on the weap- on stash found under the sea at Miġra Ferħa on Monday believed to be linked to the Agius broth- ers. Police told MaltaToday that investigations and a magisterial inquiry were still underway and it would "not be prudent" to give any more details on the weapons. "Please note that police inves- tigations and a magisterial in- quiry are still ongoing therefore it wouldn't be prudent to divulge further information at this stage," the police said. Several weapons, ammunition and suspected explosive material were found on the seabed in an area known as Miġra Ferħa. Police sources confirmed a possible link to brothers Adri- an and Robert Agius, known as Tal-Maksar. Sources said an AK47, rifles, ammunition and detonators were found inside bags that were on the seabed. Meanwhile, earlier on Tuesday, ONE News reported that inves- tigators carrying out forensic tests on the weapons have not ruled out that they were used for the murders of Joseph Cutajar known as Lion and Johnathan Pace, who owned Tyson Butch- er in Żejtun. Both men were gunned down with what police believe were AK47 assault rifles. The Times of Malta also re- ported that a detonator discov- ered with the weapons was the same type as that used in the car bomb that killed Daphne Carua- na Galizia. Authorities received the initial tip-off on Sunday afternoon, and immediately went on site to con- firm the report. It was a scuba diver who discov- ered the weapons while swim- ming in the area, and eventually reported the weapons to the po- lice. The search began at 3:15pm and ended at 7pm the same day. However, the search continued on Monday morning, and ended at 11:30am. Police refuse to give details on Migra Ferha weapons stash 'Some countries still pushing for grey-listing' Finance minister Clyde Caruana