Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1439469
21 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 26 DECEMBER 2021 NEWS Christmas specials a 10,000sq.m are of land. Since then, the size almost doubled. The US embassy was also re- ported to be leaning on the Maltese government to achieve a favourable resolution to the Steward Hospitals impasse. Steward Healthcare found- er and boss Ralph de la Torre had already locked horns with Prime Minister Robert Abela and health minister and dep- uty PM Chris Fearne over the future of the hospitals' project and an agreement signed with former minister Konrad Mizzi. Steward had a memorandum of understanding that was ex- pected to be followed up by a new contract in 2019, but was never formally signed because of the political crisis that saw Muscat resign. De la Torre was accompanied by a representative of the Unit- ed States embassy in talks with Abela and Fearne in 2020. The American healthcare company, which stepped in to buy the mysterious Vitals Global Healthcare in Decem- ber 2017, insisted on a new contract that gave them more money to run the three state hospitals – up to €120 million annually – and wider berth on default clauses. They had al- ready won concessions from Muscat to ensure Steward gets extra finance to continue oper- ations while in Malta. The Maltese were already ex- posed to a new kind of risk on the Steward hospitals' conces- sion: information received by a magistrate carrying out an inquiry into the controversial public-private partnership, re- vealed an "escape clause" that would turn any termination of the Steward concession in- to a government default. The agreement was signed by Miz- zi and Steward so that should the hospitals' concession be terminated by a court of law – for whatever reason, and even if Steward is in breach of con- tract – such an event would be a government default. That would mean that all debts in- curred by Steward would be passed on to the government, with the American company still remaining liable for a €100 million contractual pay-out for its equity. One minister who spoke to MaltaToday referred to the in- fluence of the US embassy as being "impossible to ignore". "The Caruana Galizia assassi- nation is intimately connected to shortcomings on rule of law, which is itself tied to our Mon- eyval performance on mon- ey laundering. The fact that someone like Yorgen Fenech is charged with the murder, throws light on the Electrogas power plant as well." Financial services practioners confident of quick resolution In the wake of the FATF's decision to place Malta on its grey list, the Institute of Fi- nancial Services Practitioners said it was confident that, with a concerted effort, the country can reach the effectiveness out- comes sought within a short period. The IFSP said that the sub- stantial progress made by Mal- ta over the past years to address shortcomings in its anti-money laundering regime had been recognised by the Financial Ac- tion Task Force (FATF). "It is regrettable that, despite the significant progress report- ed by MONEYVAL, the FATF has placed the jurisdiction un- der increased monitoring, also known as the Grey List," it said. "Unlike a number of other countries (including some EU Member States and other large countries) Malta does not have any "non-compliant" or "par- tially compliant" grades and has therefore fared better when viewed through the lens of the FATF's own risk-scoring ma- trix." The institute said that Malta had made big strides forward in its fight against money laun- dering and financing of terror- ism, so much so that it was now either largely compliant or ful- ly compliant with all 40 of the FATF recommendations. "The financial services indus- try is proud to have been part of the process to raise the bar in AML and CFT compliance and that its cooperation with the authorities over the past months has led to this signifi- cant progress," it said. Employers A survey carried out by the Malta Employers' Association into the perceptions of busi- nesses about Malta's FATF greylisting found that almost 90% of Maltese employers fear this will leave a negative impact on the Maltese economy. The survey revealed that 88% of respondents believe that the FATF greylisting will negative- ly impact the Maltese econ- omy, with 64% anticipating strong repercussions. 71% of companies anticipate that the greylisting will affect their business directly, and 63% of respondents reported that the greylisting will be affect- ing them within the coming six months. Companies in financial ser- vices, igaming and other ser- vices are expecting stronger repercussions than manufac- turing, wholesale and retail, and tourism. Businesses were also con- cerned about rising compliance costs, with some companies having resorted to employing additional personnel to deal with the bureaucracy of added compliance. The survey results concluded that the main reasons attrib- uted to the grey listing were money laundering activities, a defective rule of law and justice system, institutional corrup- tion, lack of transparency and weak institutions. The most salient recom- mendation submitted by re- spondents was the need for an effective and efficient justice system; the prosecution of cor- rupt politicians, PEPs and busi- ness people; the resignation of implicated politicians and the implementation of Moneyval/ FATF recommendations.