“It has become clear that the Maltese authorities remain inherently incapable of resolving these cases of alleged allegations of high-level political corruption or reforming the institutions concerned”, said Peter Omtzigt of the European People's Party (EPP) in a statement issued on Friday 29 May.
As rapporteur for the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on the follow-up to the Resolution on the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia and the rule of law in Malta, he refers to the non-advancement of six cases of alleged high-level political corruption identified by PACE: the Panama Papers, the “golden passports” and the Electrogas, Egrant, Hillman and Vitals Global Healthcare affairs. It is time to “end the prevailing climate of impunity”, he said. To this end, since many of these cases have a cross-border dimension, Peter Omtzigt is calling upon the Maltese authorities to establish Joint Investigative Teams with the competent authorities of the relevant States.
He continued to say that this would bring together judges, prosecutors and law enforcement officials to conduct a joint criminal investigation, with the procedure being described as “an efficient and effective co-operation tool” by the European Union's criminal justice agency, EUROJUST.
See the press release: https://bit.ly/2ZONiLa (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)