The President of the Financial Action Task Force, the FATF, Marcus Pleyer said that Malta has made good progress in its action plan to continue the fight against money laundering.
At a news conference during which he was asked what action Malta was taking to get off the FATF grey list, said that broadly speaking, Malta has made good progress in its action plan, including by imposing an increase in the number of penalties against companies that incorrectly register company owners (ultimate beneficial owners). He added that the country has also passed on more financial intelligence to the Malta Police which has led to further steps being taken against people accused of money laundering cases.
“Malta has made good progress across its action plan including by imposing an increasing number of penalties for filing of incorrect beneficial ownership information, it has also disseminated additional financial intelligence to the malta police in concerning money laundering leading to tax crimes leading to a greater number of tax base money laundering investigations than in the years past”.
“However there is more work that remains – as none of Malta’s action plan has been largely addressed in the short time since the listing in June”, he continued.
He therefore said that the FATF was looking at the steps that Malta was taking as good, and urged the country to continue with this improvement and address all the issues in this action plan.
“So FATF has seen good initial steps from Malta and encourage it to continue in its improvement and address all the items in the action plan”, added Pleyer.
Photo: FATF President Marcus Pleyer
