Francis Zammit Dimech accuses Muscat of lying about him to ‘deviate attention’

Nationalist Party MEP Francis Zammit Dimech has accused Prime Minister Joseph Muscat of lying about him in order to deviate attention from a debate “on the collapse of the rule of law in Malta” to be held this Tuesday at the European Parliament.

Earlier today, while addressing a political activity in Santa Venera, Muscat accused Zammit Dimech – who is scheduled to speak during Tuesday's debate – of hypocrisy, given that he had been named as an intermediary in the Panama Papers. Muscat added that with the same reasoning used by the PN, Zammit Should not address the debate and should resign his seat at the parliament.

“Once again Joseph Muscat is lying on my involvement in the Panama Papers to try to deviate attention in the light of a damning resolution outlining the total collapse of the rule of law in Malta which happened under his watch and which will now be debated next week at the European Parliament,” said Zammit Dimech in a statement.

The MEP said the Panama Papers “made reference to Valletta Legal acting as intermediaries for clients”, insisting that he had “never formed part of Valletta Legal”.

“Valletta Legal had an office sharing agreement with me – we were using the same premises and therefore the name ‘Francis Zammit Dimech Advocates’ is indicated as part of the address of that Firm but ‘Francis Zammit Dimech Advocates’ never had any interest in Valletta Legal which in any case acted for clients since even Valletta Legal never had any company of its own or for its own lawyers in any offshore jurisdiction,” said the MEP and former PN minister.

He reiterated that in reality, “the only minister in the whole European Union that was mentioned in the Panama Papers was Konrad Mizzi, who along with the Chief of Staff of the Prime Minister Keith Schembri”.

He stressed that in Schembri’s case, the company was held in “his own interest” and not even as a professional intermediary.
Furthermore, he said the Prime Minister had also failed to take action against them and that, “owing to the collapse of the rule of law, FIAU and the police did not take any action either”.

Zammit Dimech said that despite attempts by the government to “silence” him on the current situation, he would continue working to defend the rights of Maltese citizens.