Grech tells Prime Minister to denounce Joseph Muscat: ‘Greylisting is his legacy’

Updated at 11:13am with Clyde Caruana closing remarks on FATF

Bernard Grech says greylisting will harm jobs and warns government that adopting a business as usual attitude will do nothing to fix things.

The Opposition leader told parliament on Monday that greylisting is Joseph Muscat’s legacy and urged Prime Minister Robert Abela to denounce his predecessor.

In a fiery speech during the debate on the financial estimates for JobsPlus, a government agency, Grech focussed on the decision by the Financial Action Task Force to greylist Malta last week.

In his introductory speech, Finance Minister Clyde Caruana avoided any reference to the FATF decision as he spoke of the challenges the labour market faces. This was Caruana’s first speech in parliament after last week’s FATF decision. He made reference to greylisting in his concluding remarks later (see below).

READ ALSO: FATF presidency warns: Malta must not downplay seriousness of financial crime

Grech picked up on Caruana’s hesitancy to even mention greylisting: “We are living in surreal times and Clyde Caruana gave us a technical speech in which he did not acknowledge that the biggest challenge to the labour market comes from the bad certificate Malta received.”

Grech held government to account for the greylisting, insisting Abela wanted to let everyone believe that it was now business as usual.

Kick Muscat out of the party

The Opposition leader called on Abela to atone for having been part of Muscat’s Cabinet as a consultant.

“People are telling you that the best of times has ended. Publicly denounce Joseph Muscat and admit this is his legacy. Take away the honours the country has given him and kick him out of the Labour Party so that you can show everyone that you do not represent continuity,” Grech told Abela.

The Opposition leader again called for a national task force to address the issues flagged by FATF and get out of the greylist as quickly as possible.

“We have to recognise that those who broke things and took this country down this alley cannot fix things and get us back on track alone. Everyone is calling for national coordination,” Grech said.

Publish FATF correspondence

He urged the Prime Minister to publish all correspondence with the FATF and the action plan agreed with the institution.

He also proposed the creation of a parliamentary committee to consult with stakeholders on the best way forward.

Grech said that parliament could not be absent from this debate, adding the Opposition was willing to play its part.

“Prime Minister put your pride aside… People are angry and workers will suffer. Your friends will not suffer as they go around watching football games. The Opposition is extending a hand of cooperation because we are interested in seeing that Malta comes out of this unscathed. Government has shot down our offer for a task force… this is not the time for pride. Is this the best of times? Is greylisting the best of times? Prime Minister you are allowing your pride to get the better of you. Put it aside so together we can work to get off the greylist,” Grech said.

Malta was greylisted by FATF citing lack of concrete action on the ground in the fight against financial crime.

READ ALSO: At €1 billion in uncollected taxes, lack of prosecutions in Malta shocks observers

Working in silence is best option now - Caruana

Clyde Caruana has insisted that working in silence to exit the FATF greylist is more important at this stage than public confrontation on the issue.

In his concluding remarks on the JobsPlus estimates, the Finance Minister reacted to the Opposition’s criticism, insisting he will not be taking greylisting lightly.

“I took the issue to heart. I worked hard, chased people… I have not and will not take greylisting lightly. The moment I take this lightly will be the day I will not be giving this country a service,” Caruana said, admitting that the FATF decision was cause for concern.

“Of course, I was worried… I did hear what people in industry had to say… of course I worry. But I can choose to stand on the side lines and whimper or inject hope,” he said.

Caruana said the FATF decision told Malta that there were things that needed to improve but it also recognised the hard work that was done in the past 18 months.

“Greylisting does not mean that this is the end of the world. It does not mean we will not exit. But this is the moment when as a minister, I have to look at people in the industry and show them that I will be doing everything possible to mitigate any negative impact… Mistakes were done and they had consequences but I will not dishearten people,” Caruana said.

He reiterated that the government will not revise its economic projections despite greylisting.

“The work that needs to be done now has to be done silently and behind the scenes… politicians sometimes make the mistake of wanting to be visible… I understand that many in the sector are worried because they will be waiting for reactions from their mother companies abroad but this government and I will be doing all it can to satisfy the demands and get off the greylist,” Caruana insisted.