ADPD calls for Edward Scicluna’s resignation, removal of golden passports scheme

ADPD - The Green Party is calling for the immediate repeal of citizenship-by-investment scheme as well as the closing of any legal loopholes that “transformed Malta into a tax haven”.

In a statement following the FATF’s greylisting decision on Malta, ADPD Chairperson Carmel Cacopardo said that action taken against money laundering has come too late, with considerable damage already done.

“It is those in the lower income levels who will feel most of the impacts of all this. They need our empathy. It is they who need the most protection at this point in time,” he said.

He listed Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri’s involvement in the Panama Papers as two episodes that contributed to the grey listing, especially with Labour MPs refusing to condemn the two at the time it was made public.

“We have had the Police Commissioner refusing to investigate money laundering cases for years on end. It is only recently that a new police commissioner has made investigations and prosecutions possible.”

“Government criminal complicity in all this has seriously damaged the economy and society,” he warned.

Cacopardo added the it was Government, with the support of the Opposition, helped develop a national consensus within the financial sector, including a national setup, which facilitated tax evasion with Malta at its base.

“Together with the sale of citizenship scheme, this has further contributed to the erosion of Malta’s reputation as a trustworthy jurisdiction.”

“All this mess was directed by Joseph Muscat and Edward Scicluna, the former Finance Minister who has been rewarded by his appointment as Governor of the Central Bank.”

“Muscat is gone. Scicluna needs to follow him at the earliest. He should either resign or be dismissed forthwith.”

He added that all this was the subject of several journalistic investigations by Daphne Caruana Galizia, who was murdered in 2017.

ADPD's statements comes hours after the FATF voted to greylist Malta, a decision dubbed "unfair" by Prime Minister Robert Abela.

On his part, Opposition leader Bernard Grech described the position as "a punishment for the whole country", while inviting government to set up a national task force to oversee the implementation of the FATF's action plan for Malta.