David Casa is EPP spokesperson for anti-money laundering legislation

Nationalist MEP David Casa has been selected by the European People’s Party to be the official spokesperson for anti-money laundering legislation within the parliamentary committee for economic and monetary affairs.

Reacting to the new appointment, Casa said that honest businesses could not be expected to adhere to stringent anti-money laundering laws, if "the powerful and the corrupt" were allowed to "run roughshod" over citizens. 

"Had the institutions been more effective in combatting money laundering, Daphne Caruana Galizia, might have still been with us today. When our institutions fail to identify, investigate and prosecute money laundering offences it is whistle-blowers and investigative journalists that end up on the front line. And in some cases, it is they who pay the ultimate price," Casa said.

Casa said that money laundering was the inevitable consequence of a crime, which allowed corrupt politicians and big businesses, human trackers, and fraudsters to enjoy their "ill-gotten gains".

"And while it is often complex, spanning across diverse jurisdictions and involving multiple financial entities, the impact of money laundering on our citizens is clear. We are being robbed of funds that should have gone to our education, to our healthcare to our infrastructure," Casaa said.

Casa added that things "must change" and that and European institutions cannot only act after charges are brought outside of Europe.

In the new role, Casa will be monitoring the implementation of the 5th anti-money laundering directive and will lead the debate on behalf of the EPP Group on any revisions to current legislation.

"The identification of criminal organisations exploiting our financial system must be faster. Action must be expedient and decisive. And EU institutions must have all the tools at their disposal to ensure this happen," he said.