News

In repeated rulings since a damning global evaluation of Malta's defenses against financial crime ended in September 2019, Maltese courts have overturned regulatory penalties against local financial institutions caught violating anti-money laundering rules. Most recently, on Feb. 22, a civil court in Valletta invalidated a €390,000 fine that Malta's Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit, or FIAU, the island's primary anti-money laundering supervisor, assessed 13 months earlier against a local gaming platform after ruling that the penalty was "unconstitutional" in nature. What may appear as a temporary setback marks the seventh consecutive legal defeat for FIAU, whose impasse with the courts threatens...