On the murder case of Daphne Caruana Galizia, a businessman, Yorgen Fenech was arrested on Wednesday but later released on bail. However, there still seems to be a need to investigate the role of the secret company 17 Black reportedly owned by him. Investigations have shown that the 17 Black owned by Fenech had ties to the Maltese government and that the company might have paid millions to secret Panamanian companies which are reportedly associated with the Maltese government.
These companies’ ownership structures are not made clear enough; they are often not created with the intention of committing crimes but are most times used to cover crimes. To avoid this, banks are encouraged to strictly respect the anti-money laundering rules. Contrarily, a leaked report from the European Central Bank reveals that the biggest bank in Malta seems to be ignoring issues relating to money-laundering, and just this week, banks in Australia, Sweden, and the UK were caught up with global money-laundering cases.
Authorities responsible for fighting money laundering and terrorist financing needs to be able to reveal the real owners of companies.
