EU chief prosecutor Laura Codruta Kovesi said that she was not able to identify the institution in Malta which was responsible for detecting financial crimes, slamming the fact that no one could provide answers.
The chief said that Malta was only supporting her European Public Prosecutor’s Office with words but not with facts.
She said that when she visited Malta and had meetings with the national authorities, it became very difficult for her after two days to identify the institution responsible to detect crimes because everyone directed her to someone else.
‘It’s not me, it’s them’ was the response she was given time and time again, saying that this needs immediate addressing. During her October visit, Kovesi had meetings with the National Audit Office, the Commissioner of Police, the Attorney General and the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit.
She warned that if members states do not do their job, the EPPO cannot do it for them. This isn’t the first critique delivered at Malta by Kovesi. In October, she said that not a single actionable report of fraud related to EU funds came from Malta.
This raised concerns of lack of reporting from the country, meaning that possible abuse is going unchecked. Malta joined the EPPO in 2018 following the spotlight shed on the country after Daphne Caruana Galizia’s assassination.
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