It’s been more than ten years now since I left Malta (click here to read my original article about why I left), and in recent years I’ve preferred not to comment much on Malta, both because I had personally moved on from thinking about the country or following its news, and also from a sense of responsibility. Since I hadn’t been spending much time there, I thought I should let others do the talking since I couldn’t be sure whether things had stayed the same, worsened, or maybe improved since I left.

This year, however, I spent a month in Malta with my family. I thought it would be a good way for my young kids to experience the place where I grew up, or at least the good parts that remain of it. I consider myself very lucky to have been born and brought up in Malta. Some problems that led to me leaving have existed for many many years, way before I was even born, but my childhood and teenage years were certainly great, and Malta was, in my opinion, passing through some of its best times back then.

So what do I think of the current state of Malta after having again spent some time there?

Well, I’m afraid the situation doesn’t look pretty to me.

In short, I would describe the country as an anarchic construction site, and certainly, as a third-world country masquerading as a modern and flourishing European nation.

The Locals’ Views are Changing

There’s one thing that has really stood out to me. When I wrote my article on why I left Malta, and especially when I had actually left a few years before, the feeling was that the problem was mine, and nobody else really felt there was any problem with Malta. This feeling of being the odd one out was probably one of the reasons that drove me to leave and try out other places to see if I was the insane one or not, now that I think of it.

However, that has changed over the years. In my recent trip and even other shorter trips before that, I’ve actually had to resort to imploring friends and even people I met for the first time to talk about something else rather than complaining about the state of the country and how they’d leave if they could. There is a shared sense of pessimism that definitely wasn’t there 5 or 10 years ago. This feeling of mine is mirrored in recent surveys done on Malta’s younger generations. Most of them want to leave and think that the future of Malta isn’t bright.

What Laws?

I describe Malta as being in a state of anarchy because even though there are laws and regulations just like anywhere else, people seem to completely ignore them in the most in-your-face manner imaginable. Of course, some people manage to flaunt the law more than others, after all this is a country that has become known for its corruption at the highest levels, as its greylisting indicates. While corruption and nepotism has always existed on this island, the current Labour party has taken things to another level.

One Big Construction Site

As for the construction site part, you just need to spend a few hours driving around Malta to understand why I describe it that way. There’s dust everywhere (forget dust control measures in Malta, nobody cares), and everywhere you look are cranes and bulldozers destroying traditional terraced houses and erecting the next ugly block of flats. Not to mention the building in what was previously green areas, again thank the unscrupulous political parties for that.

No wonder the cases of asthma and other respiratory diseases have gone through the roof. Oh, and I forgot to mention the lax safety standards in place when demolition and construction takes place. A few people died due to their houses collapsing while works were being done on the adjacent buildings, but this is Malta, and the people responsible get to continue living their lives while the victims suffer on.

The country has always been very limiting geographically; as a resident or native Maltese, you pretty much get to know every part of the islands by heart, meet the same people, go to the same restaurants etc. On the other hand, in bigger countries, you always have the sense that you can do something new, and that was also one reason why I left. With the destruction of Malta’s natural environment, the increase in population, and corresponding traffic and pollution, it has become downright suffocating.

Greed and Selfishness – A Way to Cope?

The greed and selfishness in the acts of people in Malta are unlike anything I’ve seen anywhere else. The interesting thing is that for the most part, these people are not even aware that they are doing something that might be an inconvenience or harm others. In fact, if you talk to some of these people in the street, they might come across as very friendly. That’s one of the paradoxes that really drives me crazy on this island.

I have a theory about this. There is only so much abuse one can watch and suffer on a daily basis before instinctively they will act in a similar way. In this way, people begin to justify small misdeeds, perhaps with a typical Malta “u ijwa” or “mhux xorta?” (meaning “it doesn’t really matter” or “it’s ok”). It’s ultimately a way to cope and normalize life in the conditions that Malta is in right now.

But the Foreigners are Coming in Droves!

Touching on the population increase, today 20% of the Maltese population was not born there. While some try to promote this fact by saying that many expats are moving to Malta because it is so great, the reality is somewhat different. Most foreigners are laborers and occupy low-skill jobs that the Maltese no longer want to do. They move here just because it’s slightly better than the previous place they were based in and struggle to make ends meet. I have made respect for many of these immigrants who not only work hard to earn a living, but actually support the rest of their families thousands of kilometers away in countries like the Philippines, India and Pakistan, as well as many African nations.

So let’s be honest, they didn’t move to Malta because of all the supposed virtues that are trumpeted in the glossy tourist ads, they are there for the money, and will move to another place when things change. A much smaller percentage of expats move to Malta for the weather, and more importantly for tax reasons. Given the destruction of Malta’s environment and climate change making the weather even hotter than it was before, I suspect the weather will become less of a factor, while the Maltese tax system has long been in the EU’s crosshairs and might very well become less attractive if they decide to apply more pressure on Malta to change the fiscal incentives.

Quo Vadis Malta?

Malta the island remains a gem, despite all the harm that has been done to it over the years. There remain a few pockets of beauty but it is getting harder and harder to find them and enjoy them without being disturbed by the actions of other irresponsible people.

As for the local people, I want to stress that there are many extremely friendly, honest, and genuinely great Maltese people, and I have the honor of counting on some of them as friends and family. I admire them for their tenacity in trying to do good things and even change the status quo, despite the adversities. However, the tragedy of the commons is all too apparent in Malta, and the growing number of bad apples ruins the overall pie.

While it’s sad for me to say it, Malta, when all things are considered, is on a steep decline and there’s not much that gives me hope for the islands.

Malta’s two main economic drivers are tourism and the financial industry. These two currently fuel and support the construction frenzy we are seeing, but all this construction is making Malta less attractive for tourists, while the financial industry is heavily dependent on Malta being able to retain its tax incentives. So in my view, both tourism and the financial industry are on shaky territory, and when one or two of those are affected, you can expect a huge construction bubble to pop.

Now that I have kids, the most important question for me has changed from being where I feel the best living, to where I want my children to grow up. And if I was quite confident with my answer to the first question, the second one I can answer even more unequivocally – I can’t ever imagine my kids growing up in Malta.

I’ll be keeping a list of my favorite movies here – perhaps at some point, I will want to rewatch some of these or watch them with someone else like my wife or kids (when they’re older).

Shawshank Redemption

Scent of a Woman

Another amazing performance by Al Pacino. I really identified with both of the main characters. The Coronel and his jaded view of life, scarred by some tragic mistakes he’s done in the past. And at the same time Charlie Simms with an innate sense of doing the right thing even if it means risking it all.

The movie exposes how society works and leaves us with a powerful ending where justice does prevail, although that is not always the case in real life.

2022-11

Tron: Legacy

Many people, including myself, like to unwind in the evenings by watching something or even reading.

A lot of these people default to streaming services such as Netflix, and for a while, I also did the same. However, I realized that is not the best use of my time, so I did some research and thinking and came up with these alternatives, which I now use depending on my mood on the day.

1. Reading – this is the ideal thing to do since it doesn’t mess with your sleep and is the best bang for your buck. Reading good books has been the biggest factor on my success in life, so it is very important for me to be constantly reading several books.
2. Take an online course – you can use Linkedin Learning, Saylor Academy, Udemy or Coursera. There are other platforms available either for free or at very low prices. I also use Wondrium a lot. Brilliant is another top choice.
3. Watch documentaries – many documentaries are available for free on YouTube. You can use TopDocumentaryFilms or OpenCulture. Alternatively, there are premium services such as Curiositystream that will give you access to hundreds of documentaries for a cheap price per year. Nebula gives you access to top documentary channels on YouTube without the ads and sometimes featuring extra content. It’s worth it just to escape from YouTube’s suggestion engine alone.
4. Watch sports – I personally like to watch padel matches, which are thankfully streamed and available on-demand for free on YouTube. I play padel so it’s always nice to see the pros perform and learn a thing or two. At other times I just watch padel tutorial videos by some of the best coaches, and that also helps my game. This is more fun than work, let’s be clear, but I see no harm in it as long as I’m not watching sports every day. For example, I quit my addiction to football a long time and no longer feel compelled to watch my favorite team play. Every now and then I watch the highlights and that’s it.

Netflix remains a great service and I’m even an investor in the company, but I wouldn’t suggest defaulting to it when you feel like watching something on TV or chilling out in the evening. Better to go and have a nice dinner and chat with a friend, read, take a course, or practice any kind of hobby (I like building Lego kits, for example, and find it highly relaxing).

Much has been written about the pandemic and I don’t want to litter the web further with my own opinions.

Clearly, the rise and spread of the virus have been a terrible blow for humanity. There have been some who profited wildly from the changes, but overall we are undoubtedly worse off from the effects of COVID.

On the other hand, the pandemic has made things that were somewhat clear and made them blatantly so, while also accelerating trends that had been building up for many years in the background.

We Are Being Brainwashed and Manipulated

The one thing that definitely stands out to me is the fact that governments and media companies have extreme power of manipulation, and the vast majority of the population acts with a herd mentality, blindly following others and their own governments’ mandates. To think independently and critically is almost demonized.

The rise of pandemic lockdowns will go down in history as one of the worst examples of global oppression caused by states to their own citizens. Never before have the day-to-day lives of so much of humanity been so radically upended. And, outside of wartime, never before has there been such a widespread and extreme rollback of human freedom.

The extreme fear instilled by governments is shameful. Sadly, the majority of citizens went into full panic mode instead of doing some thinking first, but I’ve learned that this is typical human behavior.

The fact that Twitter parody accounts sometimes make you wonder if they are actually being serious is proof enough of how idiotic behavior has become.

There are hundreds of such examples. For example, it’s beyond me why anyone would think a mask is of any use when walking alone in the countryside, or even while driving in a closed car.

I grew up with an inherent disdain for imposed authorities of all forms. Perhaps it was due to the way my parents brought me up, the fact that I was an avid reader from an early age, or the reality that I never quite fit in within school and felt misunderstood and coerced into behaving the way the authorities wanted me to behave, even though deep down I knew it wasn’t the best thing for me.

As an adult, I learned more about how the world really works and refined my thinkings and beliefs, and I understood what level of brainwashing takes place on a daily basis through political party propaganda, religions, and company advertising, and how effective they are at manipulating our behavior.

However, never before 2020 has it been clearer to me who is on each side of the fence. This alone is a brilliant silver lining to this whole shitshow that has been the COVID pandemic so far.

Here are some partial notes for me, my family, and anyone else on the same wavelength to keep in mind going forward. This is by no means an exhaustive list of conclusions, and I might come back to this post and flesh it out further in the coming months.

[Read more…]

Update 2022: After just a year, Malta was removed from the FATF grey list. The reputational damage won’t be that easy to reverse however.

On June 25 2021, Malta was placed on the FATF’s list of jurisdictions under increased monitoring, better known as the ‘grey list’. It is the first time that an EU Member State has been placed on this list due to increased and persistent money laundering and terrorist financing risks.

Let’s take a look at what the FATF itself has to say about Malta’s current state, and why they have put the island in the grey list:

In June 2021, Malta made a high-level political commitment to work with the FATF and MONEYVAL to strengthen the effectiveness of its AML/CFT regime. Since the adoption of its MER in July 2019, Malta has made progress on a number of the MER’s recommended actions to improve its system, such as: strengthening the risk-based approach to FI and DNFBP supervision; improving the analytical process for financial intelligence; resourcing the police and empowering prosecutors to investigate and charge complex money laundering in line with Malta’s risk profile; introducing a national confiscation policy as well as passing a non-conviction based confiscation law; raising sanctions available for the crime of TF and capability to investigate cross-border cash movements for potential TF activity; and increasing outreach and immediate communication to reporting entities on targeted financial sanctions and improving the TF risk understanding of the NPO sector.

Malta will work to implement its FATF action plan by (1) continuing to demonstrate that beneficial ownership information is accurate and that, where appropriate, effective, proportionate, and dissuasive sanctions, commensurate with the ML/TF risks, are applied to legal persons if information provided is found to be inaccurate; and ensuring that effective, proportionate, and dissuasive sanctions are applied to gatekeepers when they do not comply with their obligations to obtain accurate and up-to-date beneficial ownership information; (2) enhancing the use of the FIU’s financial intelligence to support authorities pursuing criminal tax and related money laundering cases, including by clarifying the roles and responsibilities of the Commissioner for Revenue and the FIU; and (3) increasing the focus of the FIU’s analysis on these types of offences, to produce intelligence that helps Maltese law enforcement detect and investigate cases in line with Malta’s identified ML risks related to tax evasion.

The FATF website also states that

“Jurisdictions under increased monitoring are actively working with the FATF to address strategic deficiencies in their regimes to counter money laundering, terrorist financing, and proliferation financing. When the FATF places a jurisdiction under increased monitoring, it means the country has committed to resolve swiftly the identified strategic deficiencies within agreed timeframes and is subject to increased monitoring. This list is often externally referred to as the “grey list”.

So now we know what the facts are. Malta was placed under examination from Moneyval and the nation passed the test, but FATF determined that there are still important problems to address, and Malta now has the opportunity to continue demonstrating that it is taking a hard stance against money laundering and terrorist financing (AML/CFT).

Here’s some info on what the FATF expects to see in this regard.

Financial Action Task Force (FATF) president Marcus Pleyer said that a stronger anti-money laundering framework will strengthen Malta’s rule of law and the integrity of its financial system.

“Maltese authorities must not downplay the importance of these measures. Every country that moves on the grey list is not very happy but in the end, the government of Malta gave its clear political commitment to work together with FATF to address all the deficiencies and this is just a signal for cooperation and I am very thankful for this commitment.”

This he said, will benefit the country in the long term, because strong anti-money laundering systems lead to stronger rule of law, social cohesion, social peace, “and sustainable and fair economic growth.”

Here are some of my thoughts on the subject, as always, trying to be objective and honest.

Malta’s reputation will suffer

While the FATF’s statement implied that Malta is fully collaborating to up its game, the immediate reaction by Maltese government officials told a different story. In a statement issued soon after the greylisting announcement, the Labour government said “Malta firmly believes that it does not deserve to be subject to increased monitoring  considering the plethora of reforms implemented that led to tangible progress in Malta’s ability to prevent, detect and combat money laundering and the funding of terrorism effectively.”

Needless to say, I consider such statements to be pure political speech that is ultimately meaningless. Malta’s reputation has been and will continue to be damaged, and a big part of the blame lies with the current government. Over the past 5 years, the island has been rocked by constant corruption scandals, not to mention the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia, a journalist who dedicated her life to expose corruption in Malta, in 2017.

Other countries that compete for Malta’s business will have a field day. For example, Guernsey’s press was quick to report this new development, obviously painting it in a very grim light.

Countries like Germany will also be banking on the hope that this reputational damage to Malta will halt the exodus of companies and high net worth individuals from Germany to countries with a friendlier tax code like Malta.

Malta’s reputation as a tax paradise is not something new, and this will just make it worse. I’ve personally been refused banking services in other countries based purely on the fact that I have Maltese citizenship. That is, of course, ridiculous and shameful, but it’s just an example of the bad image that Malta had already been cultivating during the previous years.

Even if Malta gets removed from the grey list quickly (within a year seems to be the most optimistic expectation), the reputational damage will take much longer to undo. In fact, I think that Malta would need to go above and beyond and become a champion of transparency, good governance and well-functioning administrative systems to eventually find its way back into being regarded positively by the public at large.

Increased banking issues

The major banks in Malta have been absolutely horrible at servicing businesses over the past few years, and things will get worse from now on, as foreign banks will look suspiciously at movements to and from Maltese banks. As an example, the oldest and largest bank in Malta, Bank of Valletta, has been struggling to find a correspondent bank to service their clients’ needs to receive and send USD.

They had to resort to using Western Union, and most people and businesses that have had to use USD from within their BoV accounts have been getting nasty surprises as transfers commonly got stuck for weeks.

Getting knowledgeable responses from the bank’s customer care services has not been easy either, meaning lots of time wasted in trying to figure out what happened with a simple transfer. All this leads to frustration and lack of trust in the banking system and the country overall, especially in the case of foreign businesses that are operating in Malta.

Ultimately, increased regulatory pressure on banks will force them to increase AML and KYC checks to ridiculous levels. This means that they have much more work to do, and smaller clients like individuals and SMEs become unprofitable. Banks are then incentivized to actually stop providing them with banking services. This situation is real, as many can already attest. Opening a bank account in Malta is actually unthinkable for most businesses moving to Malta. It’s downright impossible even if it’s a traditional business, let alone a business that operates in “risky” niches like crypto and online gaming. Gone are dreams of Malta being a “blockchain island”, as the government famously proclaimed a few years back.

Failure of the EU as an institution

While the FATF decided to publicly shame Malta this time, it doesn’t mean that the rest of European nations are squeaky clean. Another FATF publication in fact highlights several other European countries that have problematic areas.

What this means is that the EU has failed as an institution to control its member nations and make sure that they all play to internationally recognized rules and regulations.

It’s easy to blame Malta as being a corrupt country with lax law enforcement, but it is well known that many other countries have important issues to deal with as well. Perhaps, Malta just proved to be an easy target to pick on this time around.

I expect the EU to get its act together and for all European countries to stop blaming each other, recognize that they each have unique needs and limitations, and work together to help each other. EU critics will undoubtedly see such news as one more proof that the EU does not work. I personally think that the EU is a net positive for its member countries, but there definitely is some work to be done to make it better than it currently is.

This is a wake-up call

I left Malta several years ago, and the state of rampant corruption was one of the reasons. Unfortunately, most Maltese people have been living in a state of denial for many years. Even when they acknowledged the sorry state of things, they felt helpless and resigned to the idea that this is how things work in Malta, and there’s nothing you can do about it.

Hopefully, the fact that Malta is joining the likes of countries like Haiti, South Sudan, Uganda, Albania, Panama, Syria etc. in occupying a place on the FATF’s grey list will serve as a wake-up call for every resident of the nation to change their way of doing things and demand much more from their politicians and law enforcement agencies.

Unfortunately, the past 10-20 years have been characterized by extreme levels of greed which have scarred Malta in many ways and attracted many unsavory characters and shady businesses to Malta. This greed has of course not been contained in the financial sector. It has meant a property boom with little regard to aesthetics or preservation of the precious little that there was of nature. Traffic and the resultant pollution have increased exponentially. Malta has become very dependent on certain business sectors like online gaming and finance, and such news threatens to blow everything up and plunge the island into a deep crisis.

Every Maltese person knows how things work on the islands. Whenever I visit, invariably the topics of conversation steer over to what this or that person did in a shady manner, or how corrupt a certain sector or person is etc. It is pretty depressing to be honest, as people are so frustrated that they end up sharing their grief with each other, which replaces quality conversation about more productive topics.

There are whole sectors that pay minimal tax just because it has long been accepted that the people providing services in these sectors work in the black economy. Construction workers are probably the most classic example. You will never get a VAT receipt for any construction work done, and if you even mention it they will look at you like crazy or even try to ridicule you. This extends to plumbers, electricians, etc.

And if you’re thinking that this rampant tax evasion is limited to manual labor, I can provide further examples. Restaurants in Gozo is another classic case. Here’s how it goes. You go and dine at any restaurant in Gozo. At the end of your meal, you get a receipt that clearly states that it is not a fiscal receipt. You pay and that’s the end of it. No VAT receipt gets issued. If you ask, the standard excuse is that the machine is currently broken. I should note that not all restaurants do this anymore, on my latest visit I did manage to collect a few VAT receipts, although it’s probably because I asked to pay by card rather than cash.

Doctors in Malta are another special case of rampant tax evasion. Since they are exempt from giving fiscal (VAT) receipts, the vast majority simply don’t give any receipt at all when you make a visit at a private clinic. It is very common to walk into clinics and pharmacies where doctors attend to patients and see a big notice saying that only cash payments are accepted. This is total BS and is an obvious way of ensuring that the government has no way of knowing how much they are making. Combined with the non-issuance of tax receipts, they get away with declaring a pittance of an income on their yearly tax declaration, pocketing the rest.

I doubt the FATF has any insight into these practices, and I would bet that they will not be touched, but those are some of the real everyday practices that actually need to be addressed in order for the overall culture of tax evasion and corruption to change. Else, people will always be looking at the extreme tax evasion practiced by these sectors and have the incentive to do the same if they can get away with it. Not to mention the feeling of injustice and helplessness felt by all those who are employed and work hard and honestly and receive their paycheck net of taxes, so they have no way of evading tax and pay a hefty 35% of all their income to the government.

While my experience of life in Malta makes me skeptical of long-lasting changes, I remain very hopeful that this greylisting will finally prove to be the necessary push to put Malta on a new and positive course for the future.

What are your thoughts? If you want to share your ideas on what the FATF grey listing means for Malta, go ahead and leave a comment below.