If you’re Maltese, you’re now suspected of being a money-launderer or somebody who helps them

I had an email just now, from a Maltese friend who works as a lawyer in northern Italy, where she has lived for several years and is permanently settled.

“Labour are harming Malta big time. Today I had proof of that,” she wrote. “I had a meeting in Bologna today with a non-EU company, to negotiate a contract. A representative of a local bank was there, the Cassa di Risparmio di Bologna. Somebody there mentioned due diligence.

“I remarked that banks have become very stringent recently and that my bank back in the town where I live has in the last year bombarded me with requests to fill in forms and give guarantees, saying that it is part of anti-money-laundering due diligence. This had never happened before.

“The bank representative at the table told me candidly, ‘Well, that’s probably because in the identification documents filed at your bank there is some reference to your being Maltese, and in the last couple of years, Malta has been red-flagged. Malta is no longer considered a safe country to do business with, so the system blocks you automatically because of your link with Malta. If you have Italian citizenship too, just ask your bank to remove all reference to Malta in your documentation.’

“I felt really demeaned. Even the non-EU citizens at the meeting were looking at me as though I come from a country somehow inferior to theirs. How much worse can it get? This started with the rampant sale of citizenship to unknown people, got a whole lot worse with Panama, and now we have curtailment of freedom of the press, and government ministers in brothels.

“In four years they’ve thrown 25 years of hard work down the drain. It feels even sadder from this end. This woman was basically telling me, ‘Stop being Maltese if you do not want to arouse suspicion’.”

What a mess he’s made of things – the leader of the most corrupt government in Malta’s post-war history