Dismissed with no reason given – ex-FIAU official

A former official of the FIAU, the government’s anti-money laundering agency, was not given any reason for his dismissal after he was told last month not to report for work any longer, The Sunday Times of Malta has learnt. 

Speaking to this paper, Charles Cronin, the former head of the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit’s Compliance Section, said his dismissal, while he was still on probation, came totally out of the blue.

“I was heading out to lunch when I was summoned by the deputy director to the director’s office at the FIAU. Both men told me that my contract had been terminated,” Mr Cronin said. 

The secretive agency has been in the eye of a political storm ever since a number of investigative reports into Keith Schembri and Konrad Mizzi’s offshore financial dealings were leaked. The reports raised suspicions that the two men were involved in criminal activity.

Another leak was of a report carried out by the compliance section at Pilatus Bank. As a result, a number of current and former FIAU officials have been summoned before Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera, who is investigating the leak following a criminal complaint filed by the bank. 

Asked if his dismissal was...