Malta most mentioned foreign country in Italian mafia investigations

Malta was the top foreign country per capita to be mentioned in Italian mafia reports compiled by anti-mafia investigators, a new organised crime report found. The country’s financial secrecy and the complex business structures used on the island are highlighted in a report published by the Transnational Crime joint research centre. The report was compiled in cooperation with high-power watchdogs such as Europol and the Italian Interior Ministry. It found that Malta, due to its geographic position in the middle of the Mediterranean, could be misused by some organised crime groups as a strategic hub for a range of illicit trafficking. In recent years, Malta has become a destination for Italian mafia criminals on the run and a location for establishing shell businesses that are used to launder money, the report said. The report suggested the reasons for Malta’s vulnerability to Italian mafia could be geographic proximity, the cultural and language links between the two countries and the business opportunities for Italian entrepreneurs. The increased cooperation between Maltese and Italian authorities have started producing results in terms of investigations, seizures and arrests,...