The Government of Malta, and the Ministry for Finance in particular, take note of the Reasoned Opinion that was issued earlier today (Thursday 19th July 2018) by the European Commission, based on alleged gaps with regard to Malta’s transposition of the 4th Anti-Money Laundering Directive into Maltese legislation.

The Maltese authorities would like to acknowledge the Commission’s assessment of Malta’s transposition of the Anti-Money Laundering Directive Four framework and its compliance with Council Directive (EU) 2015/849. As already stated in earlier correspondence exchanges with the Commission, the Prevention of Money Laundering Act was meant to transpose all the provisions of this Directive. This was done at the end of 2017, with the ancillary Legal Notices published in January 2018. In this respect, we welcome the suggestions to improve further the text used in the transposition of the Directive in national legislation.

PRESS RELEASE BY THE MINISTRY FOR FINANCE

In the spirit of collaboration, Maltese legal officials will engage in technical discussions with the Commission’s legal team to explain the reasons and justification of our legislation and make any corrections which might be required.

The Government of Malta remains committed to continue strengthening the work it has already undertaken concerning the strengthening of  institutions, combating money laundering, and fighting international tax avoidance.

Thursday 19 July 2018