Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1509870
13 NEWS maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 18 OCTOBER 2023 SIX years after Daphne Caruana Galizia was murdered because of the sleaze and corruption she uncovered, the country's ability to prosecute financial crime and corruption remains a big question mark. The police force's Financial Crimes Investiga- tion Department (FCID) was bolstered and is now one of the bigger sections within the corps. But this unit has over the past months experi- enced turmoil in terms of human resources that has put a damper on motivation. It has to be acknowledged that the Malta Fi- nancial Services Authority (MFSA) and the Fi- nancial Intelligence and Analysis Unit (FIAU) are today miles ahead of what they were in 2019. Boosted with more human resources and auto- mated systems that made their analysis more efficient, these authorities now have more bite. Yet, this is still not enough and six years down the line the authorities have to renew their com- mitment to fight financial crime and corruption tooth and nail. This includes investigating and prosecuting the big fish who gravitate in and around the country's power structures. Adequate financial and human resources must be provided but more importantly there has to be the political will to clean up the mess by allowing the institutions the space to work unhindered. Prosecutions involving financial crime, includ- ing money laundering, increased over the past few years as police targeted individuals with sus- pect amounts of wealth that did not match their declared income. Police also used money laundering legislation to charge suspects with financial crimes along- side other more obvious charges such as drug trafficking. In this way, the police are not only going after the predicate offence but also target- ing the money flows. However, there is this increasing feeling that the flurry of cases brought to court up until last year were a knee-jerk reaction to Malta's greylis- ting by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). Now that Malta has been taken off the grey list, things appear to have calmed down. More significantly, high profile financial crime cases involving people who were close to the Joseph Muscat administration continue to drag on in court with no end in sight. Prosecutions on their own are not enough unless these reach sentencing stage within a reasonable timeframe. In two relatively recent rackets – the disability allowance scheme by which the State was de- frauded millions and the odometer scandal by which customers were cheated by second hand car importers – the masterminds behind these scams have not been charged yet. This may be strategically intentioned to first prosecute the small fish who could then potentially testify against the organisers. But if this is the case, it certainly does not seem so from the outside with prosecutors appearing as if they are unwilling to go after the big fish. And in the latest scandal to erupt – the driv- ing licence affair – the Prime Minister has even gone on record to defend the dubious actions of government customer care officials and their po- litical masters. Police have charged three Trans- port Malta officials with the scam but WhatsApp messages published in the media show customer care officials forwarding lists of prospective driv- ing test candidates to be helped. Unfortunately, for the Prime Minister this is all fair game. Beyond the action that still needs to be taken or taken more forcefully, new legal tools may be necessary to help law enforcement fight corrup- tion. Unexplained Wealth Orders (UWO) are one such tool. They oblige persons suspected of cor- ruption or other serious crimes to explain the origin of their wealth and discrepancies between their legitimate sources of income and the value of their assets. According to the World Bank's Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative UWOs are a "civil, not crim- inal action and can be an invaluable tool in asset recovery cases in which cross-border identifica- tion and tracing of criminal and corrupt assets is a challenge for relevant investigative agencies and prosecutors". The introduction of UWOs was one of several anti-corruption measures proposed by the three judges who presided the public inquiry into Daphne Caruana Galizia's death. Unfortunately, this proposal like many oth- ers made by the inquiry was not implemented and there does not seem to be the appetite for UWOs to be introduced anytime soon. Similarly, a proposal to introduce laws regulat- ing lobbying and the communication between politicians and business remain elusive. A proposal to introduce a law criminalising the obstruction of justice by government officials al- so remains unimplemented. Six long years after Daphne's murder it would appear that at best political pique is to blame for the lack of a comprehensive effort to combat corruption; and at worst politicians are compla- cent with criminals and do not want to rock the boat. The will and the tools to fight corruption maltatoday MaltaToday, MediaToday Co. Ltd, Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN 9016 MANAGING EDITOR: SAVIOUR BALZAN EXECUTIVE EDITOR: KURT SANSONE EDITOR: PAUL COCKS Tel: (356) 21 382741-3, 21 382745-6 Website: www.maltatoday.com.mt E-mail: dailynews@mediatoday.com.mt mon ground, on a proposal that around 96% of the population considers to be… … ooh, take your pick: 'sense- less'; 'irresponsible'; 'immature'; 'daft', etc. But that doesn't even begin to capture the full extent of this irony, because… sorry, but what was it, again, that Justin Schem- bri (and so many others) found so 'objectionable', in the idea of '16-year-old becoming mayors'? Didn't it have something to do with the (indisputable) fact that – at the tender age of 'sweet 16' – people are generally regarded as being too… erm… 'senseless', 'irresponsible', 'immature', and 'DAFT', to be entrusted with the serious business of 'running a town, or a village'? And yet, and yet… what sort of behaviour are we witnessing, from the supposedly 'mature, responsible' adults that we DO actually elect – to run the entire country, mind you (and in Met- sola's case: the entire European Parliament): not just a few ran- dom 'towns and villages', here and there? How 'mature' and 'responsible' is it, for instance, for both Gov- ernment and Opposition parties to draw up such a brazen, 'un- heard-of' policy for local govern- ance – a policy so unique, that it exists in no other EU member state (quite possibly, with good reason) - without even bothering to find out what the vast majority of the country actually THINKS about the whole idea, to begin with? If that's not a classic case of 'shooting first, and asking ques- tions later'… I don't know what is, quite frankly. But at least, it did help me revise my own opinion, about the matter at hand. Should 16-year-olds be allowed to become mayors, at the end of the day? To tell you the truth, if you asked me that question a few days ago… my answer would have been indistinguishable from Justin Schembri's (and – be hon- est – yours, too). Today, howev- er? I'm not so sure. I mean, look at it this way: if even 'mature', responsible', and (above all) 'experienced' adult politicians, end up behaving pre- cisely like teenagers, the moment they're in any position of power – among other things, by 'blurting out the first thing that comes to mind', without considering the consequences (a surefire symp- tom of 'teenage irresponsibility', if there ever was one)…. then surely, REAL teenagers couldn't possibly do a worse job, of run- ning this country, than the adults who've been trying to do that – and failing miserably – for the past 60 years…? And besides: even if we concede that teenagers are unlikely to do a much BETTER job of it either, all things considered… at least, those kids will have an automat- ic excuse, for being so 'senseless', 'irresponsible', 'immature', and 'DAFT'. They're only 16, ffs! What else can you possibly expect? Ah, but can we say the same for all the 'adult politicians', that we vote for in each and every elec- tion? No, I didn't think so, ei- ther… Roberta Metsola