Malta's highest court ruled Thursday that anti-money laundering authorities violated constitutional principles in fining a local payment processor absent a "fair" hearing, marking the latest in a series of legal decisions that threaten to upend enforcement on the island. In July 2022, ACAMS moneylaundering.com reported on dozens of appeals that companies had filed against decisions by the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit, or FIAU, to penalize them for violating AML rules in Malta, where courts have shown themselves much more likely to rule in favor of plaintiffs than those in neighboring countries. The trend continued Thursday with the decision of Malta's...
Malta's multiyear campaign to ramp up AML enforcement following a series of money laundering scandals has encountered significant legal obstacles, data obtained by ACAMS moneylaundering.com shows.
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