'Did Malta's bad reputation attract Venezuela money-laundering scheme?': Delia

Opposition leader Adrian Delia on Sunday questioned if Malta’s bad reputation helped attract a $1.2 billion scheme to launder funds from Venezuela’s state-owned oil company.

A Sliema-based private wealth management firm, Portmann Capital Management is being investigated for its role in the scheme.

Speaking on Net FM, Dr Delia said that if Malta had proven itself to be a tough jurisdiction that clamped down on money-laundering, it would not attract such schemes.

Dr Delia asked what steps the government would be taking to strengthen institutions tasked with fighting such crimes. He urged Prime Minister Joseph Muscat to sit down with him and discuss a way to clean up Malta’s reputation in the financial services sector.

Dr Delia said the government had to acknowledge Malta’s reputation in the sector had been tarnished. Only then could it sit down with the Opposition in a bid to clean it up, he said.

Turning to the controversial €274 million “direct order” for the extension of the St Vincent de Paul residence, Dr Delia vowed that the PN would speak up vociferously whenever public money was not administered well. He said the PN had asked the Auditor General to investigate the...