Scicluna says his opinion on Alfred Mifsud is 'irrelevant'

Finance minister plays down concerns that Mizzi's and Schembri's offshore dealings directly damaged Malta's financial services industry

Finance minister Edward Scicluna refused to weigh in on whether he believes Alfred Mifsud should resign as deputy governor of the Central Bank, following corruption allegations.

“My personal opinion on Alfred Mifsud is irrelevant,” Scicluna said, when pressed for an a clear-cut answer in Parliament by Opposition leader Simon Busuttil.

Mifsud as originally set to be appointed Central Bank governor in 1 July, but withdrew his nomination on Monday following bribery allegations.

The allegations were made by his former companion Anna Zelbst, who told the Malta Independent columnist Daphne Caruana Galizia she had witnessed Mifsud accepting payments of Lm50,000 (€125,000) three times between 1996 and 1998 from Ronnie Demajo, of the M Demajo Group, ostensibly for the installation of banking software at Mid Med Bank, where Mifsud was chairman.
Mifsud has denied the allegations, filing a libel suit against both Caruana Galizia and Zelbst.

Scicluna insisted that he will not instruct the Central Bank to fire Mifsud, as that would amount to “clear interference into an independent institution”.

“Could you imagine if the deputy governor was a friend of the Opposition, and I were to ask the Central Bank to remove him on the grounds of a blogger’s allegations? It is not up to government to take action against him, but rather up to the Central Bank following consultation with the European Central Bank.”

Busuttil insisted that the public have a right to hear the finance ministers’ opinion on such an important topic.

Scicluna was giving a ministerial statement to welcome the latest version of an EU anti-tax avoidance directive, following several amendments to the text that address Malta’s concerns.

However, Busuttil warned that Malta’s credibility was dealt a hammer-blow following revelations that minister Konrad Mizzi and the Prime Minister’s chief of staff Keith Schembri own offshore companies.

“How can Scicluna sit down with other finance ministers when his Cabinet colleague owns an offshore Panama company?” he asked. “If I were a minister, I’d tell him straight out to clean out his own stables first.”

Scicluna retorted that the Panama Papers leak served to strengthen the hand of countries that want to clamp down on tax havens, but played down concerns that Mizzi’s and Schembri’s offshore dealings had direct negative repercussions on Malta’s financial services industry.

“What goes on in Panama, Luxembourg and the Cayman Islands don’t damage Malta’s financial services industry as much as incidents that take place on the island itself do,” he said.

He accused the Opposition of trying to harm Malta by publicising the scandal “across the four corners of the earth”.

“When you see a shocking incident that could damage your country, you don’t publicise it across the world and then gasp in shock,” he said.

Busuttil rejected Scicluna’s claim, arguing that the damage to the country’s reputation was caused by Mizzi and Schembri themselves.

Scicluna refused to answer Busuttil’s question on whether he agrees with education minister Evarist Bartolo’s “constant attacks” on Malta Financial Services Authority chairman Joe Banniser.

“If you don’t want Bannister as chairman, then just get rid of him, but it is unacceptable for one minister to attack him while another one defends him,” he said.

However, Scicluna argued that he had already made his views on the controversy public.