A Tale of Two Scandals: How Malta Became a Safe Haven for Financial Crime—And Why the UK Is Silent

By Steve Conley | Academy of Life Planning

While victims of financial crime across Europe wait in vain for justice, a disturbing pattern of institutional failure is emerging—one that crosses borders, blurs regulatory responsibilities, and leaves ordinary citizens defenceless against organised criminal exploitation. At the centre of it: Malta.

This week, The Shift published a damning exposé revealing a multi-million-euro illegal gambling and money laundering operation openly operating across the island, in full view of law enforcement. The Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit (FIAU) of Malta identified the key players as early as 2020. Intelligence was shared with the police. Names, addresses, laundering methods, even links to the assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. Yet years later—not a single arrest. Not a single prosecution.

To those of us who have been tracking cross-border pension scams, this comes as no surprise.

We’ve been submitting evidence of financial misconduct to the FIAU and Maltese police since 2021. Victims—many in the UK—have lost their life savings through fraudulent pension transfers involving Maltese-registered trustees and unregulated advisers. Documents forged, funds vanished, oversight ignored. Despite clear breaches of fiduciary duty and regulatory law, no accountability has followed.

Why?

Here’s a clue: the Chairman of the FIAU is Mr Kenneth Farrugia, who also happens to be the CEO of the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA)—the very body meant to regulate these pension trustees. The same MFSA that signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority and the Bank of England in 2019, promising cooperation on cross-border supervision and consumer protection.

Yet neither the UK nor Malta has lifted a finger to protect those affected.

---

The Systemic Symptom: Impunity by Design

This isn’t simply a story of regulatory negligence. It’s a story of institutional complicity, power without accountability, and a carefully constructed apparatus where the illusion of oversight conceals systemic inaction.

The illegal gambling network outlined by The Shift echoes the same failings seen in the pension fraud epidemic:

• Detailed intelligence from the FIAU.
• Wealth generated from criminal conduct laundered into property portfolios.
• Warnings ignored by enforcement bodies.
• A deafening silence from the authorities responsible.

The perpetrators walk free. The victims carry the cost.

---

UK Inaction: The Other Silent Partner

Despite its 2019 agreement with the MFSA, the UK’s FCA and Bank of England have done nothing. Victims and whistleblowers have raised red flags, filed complaints, and provided documentation. The FCA has referred matters back to Malta, fully aware that Malta isn’t acting. The Bank of England continues to endorse the MoU as a model for cross-border cooperation while ignoring its complete breakdown.

Where is the Parliamentary scrutiny? Where are the sanctions for regulatory failure?

---

This Is Bigger Than Malta

The heart of the problem is not a rogue state—it is a broken system of globalised financial regulation, where treaties are signed for optics, not outcomes. Where criminal enterprises can hide behind legal complexity, and where justice becomes a postcode lottery.

Malta has become a case study in how small jurisdictions can be exploited by international actors, shielded by powerful figures and institutions too intertwined to act against their own.

---

A Call to Action

To lawmakers, regulators, and public servants on both sides of the Channel: your silence is complicity.

We need:

• A full independent inquiry into the FCA and MFSA’s failure to enforce the MoU.
• Sanctions against Maltese entities that facilitate fraud and ignore financial crime intelligence.
• Protection for whistleblowers and victims of pension and financial scams.
• A new model of cross-border accountability—one that puts people before profit and public interest before institutional self-preservation.

Until then, victims will continue to fall. And trust in justice, already strained, may soon be beyond repair.

---

If you’ve been affected by financial exploitation or want to help us fight back, visit the Academy of Life Planning and join the movement to expose financial injustice.

---

About Get SAFE

Get SAFE (Support After Financial Exploitation) was born from a simple truth: too many victims of financial abuse are left to suffer in silence.

We exist in memory of Ian Davis—for the ones who did everything right, only to be failed by the systems they trusted. We know that behind every vanished pension, every ignored complaint, and every stonewalled letter is a person—frightened, exhausted, and too often alone.

Get SAFE offers more than sympathy. We offer structure, support, and solidarity.
We provide a voice where there’s been silence, and clarity where there’s been confusion.
We stand beside those who have been exploited, not just to help them recover—but to help them reclaim their story and rebuild their future.

Because financial justice is not a luxury.
It’s a human right.

If you or someone you know has been affected by financial exploitation, we are here.
You are not alone.

 Learn more at: Get SAFE (Support After Financial Exploitation).