Finance Minister Edward Scicluna has expressed his regret at the way he crammed for a money-laundering test.
“Oh man, I really screwed up,” Scicluna said after opening the envelope sent by Moneyval and reading the results of the test.
“If only I’d studied more throughout the year and not left it all till the last minute,” he added.
Scicluna also lamented the way he had been distracted by economic growth and budgetary surpluses instead of committing more resources to the FIAU.
“But all the cool big countries do it, so I guess I got affected by peer pressure,” the minister speculated.
When contacted by Bis-Serjetà, Moneyval chairperson Elżbieta Frankow-Jaśkiewicz said she was very disappointed in Scicluna.
“Learning the proper ways to pursue high-level and complex money laundering cases related to financial, bribery and corruption offences is not something you can do in a single Red Bull-fuelled all-nighter,” she said said.
Meanwhile, Scicluna promised he would study really hard for his re-sit.