[WATCH] Companies no longer want to be associated with Malta, Peter Agius warns

Companies who have operated in Malta for years are now considering not renewing their licences due to the island's greylisting status, Nationalist Party spokesperson Peter Agius has said. 

Agius was speaking during a Nationalist Party press conference in front of the MFSA in Birkirkara on how Malta's greylisting has affected businesses. 

"First, we need to find out why these companies are not renewing their licences. There are those who only provide finical services. Then there who have been operating in Malta for years are not renewing their licences simply because they have parent companies in America where they have been told that it does not make sense to be associated with Malta," Agius said. 

The PN spokesperson said that the situation was tragic, and the government had put an unfair burden on the financial sector after already being put through stringent tests to pass the Moneyval test. 

Last June Malta was put on the Financial Action Task Force’s greylist despite strong adherence to a Moneyval assessment. 

Agius was also asked whether the PN agreed with media companies being placed under party financing rules in light of reports that Labour Party's former CEO Gino Cauchi had discussed with Tumas magnate Yorgen Fenech a €200,000 'consultancy deal' for marketing and media buying for the Tumas Group.  

He said that party financing rules effectively applied to everyone and everything. 

"The story that we saw today showed us the Labour Party was operating above the law because there was an arrangement to bypass the financing laws for the party so that it would not apply to them," Agius added. 

Asked regarding both parties reputation of avoiding paying tax, Agius reiterated that he believed everyone was obligated to pay their taxes.