In an open letter, referring to Edward Scicluna, former Finance Minister and current Governor of the Central Bank of Malta, MEP for the PN David Casa wrote that:
“It would be disastrous to have key figures … that are meant to convince the world of the nation’s regulatory integrity while concurrently fighting criminal charges over their own impropriety.”
X’ipokrita’ ta’ nies! Jekk hemm xi ħaġa li vera nistmerr hija l-ipokrita’!
These characters of double-standards should either remain silent or else tell the whole picture. This Member of the European Parliament should have reminded the people that the European Central Bank, besides having the corrupt Lagarde as President, elected there unlawfully, “is no stranger to controversy in its ranks. Slovak National Bank Governor Peter Kažimír is currently defending bribery charges dating back to his time as finance minister in the first government of Robert Fico, while the former Latvian central bank Governor Ilmārs Rimšēvičs was sentenced to six years in prison on bribery and corruption charges last December.”
According to Reuters, “Slovak central bank chief and European Central Bank rate setter Peter Kazimir pleaded innocent to bribery charges” last July “in a trial that could put a sharper spotlight on both the Bratislava- and Frankfurt-based institutions.”
“The case concerns ‘suspicion of corrupt criminal activity in connection with tax audits against several commercial companies’ when Kazimir was finance minister in the previous government, prosecutors said in February.” It was the in October 2021 when Slovak news website www.aktuality.sk, “reported that Kazimir was charged in a case related to an alleged bribe for a former Slovak tax administration chief, who had been charged in several cases and was then cooperating with investigators. The news website said Kazimir was accused of being a ‘courier’ who carried a bribe of some 50,000 euros ($53,370) related to unspecified tax proceedings to the tax chief.”
Kazimir has maintained his innocence so far and he has continued to work as central bank governor, despite some calls to resign, because “under Slovak central bank statutes, board members can continue to serve with a criminal record provided that record is clear of ‘final convictions for a deliberate crime’.”
“In 2018, Latvia barred its central bank governor from office and prevented him from taking part in ECB meetings after he was accused by its public prosecutor of taking a bribe, an accusation the governor denied. But he was found guilty last December and was sentenced to six years in prison on bribery and corruption charges last December.”
This is corruption at higher levels including the bankers and the European Central Bank.
So, what David Casa the MEP and us, must ask is, if worldwide governments are not acting in our best interests, then why would they desire a central banker who is unwaveringly honest? They would want someone who is prepared to provide the money. Do governments even have authority over central banks? Or are they privately owned?
The truth is that long ago I had sent an email to Edward Scicluna when he was appointed as Finance Minister by Dr. Joseph Muscat, asking him why cannot the government interfere with the loans interest rates of the bank. The reply I got was ‘the government does not have control over the banks.’
Then who do you think has control over the banks? Shall we say the organizations and institutions, set up by the ruling families whose control over such organizations and institutions turn into control over the banks so to continue to control you?