Haiti, Malta, Philippines and South Sudan have entered FATF's list of 'Jurisdictions under its Increased Monitoring' often referred to as the 'grey list', the Financial Action Task Force president Marcus Pleyer officially revealed at a press conference on 25 June.
In the case of Malta, the Paris-headquartered international monitoring body highlighted three actions that were needed for the island to be taken off this list:
1. Showing that ownership information for companies based in Malta is accurate, and that authorities crack down decisively when information about company ownership is found to be inaccurate.
"Where appropriate, the FATF expects effective, proportionate, and dissuasive sanctions, commensurate with the money laundering/terrorism financing risks, are applied to legal persons if information provided is found to be inaccurate," FATF president Marcus Pleyer said.
Gatekeepers that do not comply with their obligations to obtain accurate and up-to-date beneficial ownership must be sanctioned.
2. Enhancing the use of financial intelligence by the FIAU to support authorities pursuing criminal tax and related money laundering cases.
This includes clarifying the roles and responsibilities of the Revenue Commissioner FIAU.
3. Focusing FIAU analysis on criminal tax offences, to get it to produce intelligence that helps Maltese law enforcement detect and investigate cases in line with Malta's identified ML risks related to tax evasion.
