PN to present legislative proposals aimed at strengthening institutions

The Nationalist Party will present a number of legislative proposals aimed at strengthening the institutions, Opposition Leader Adrian Delia told EU Commissioner for Justice Věra Jourová during a meeting yesterday.

The two sides discussed the assassination of Journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, and the investigation surrounding her murder, as well as money laundering.

Delia said that up until recently, Malta had a good reputation as an excellent financial jurisdiction, yet said that over the past years, there were serious deficiencies in enforcement of EU directives, due diligence regulations, and banking licenses.

Delia said that the Pilatus Bank case opened the doors on failures in the verification process for the granting of licences. On the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia, he said that despite Prime Minister Joseph Muscat pledging to use all resources to find those responsible, near to no progress was made to find the person who ordered the murder.

The EU Commissioner also met with Finance Minister Edward Scicluna.

On Thursday, the Commissioner addressed the press, and highlighted that the European Banking Authority’s (EBA) investigation into the FIAU’s handling of Pilatus Bank could potentially lead to the initiation of infringement procedures, should deficiencies be found.