‘I’ve found God’: Konrad Mizzi, Labour minister of Panama fame, bows out

The former Labour minister Konrad Mizzi, revealed to have owned a secret Panama offshore company connected to Tumas magnate Yorgen Fenech, has claimed to have found God.

In a Facebook post on the end of his parliamentary career, the independent MP – sacked from Labour over allegations on the Mozura wind farm scandal – said that he had “learnt how to place God at the centre of my life” in the last two years since his forced resignation as minister.

Mizzi was until recently facing a grilling inside the Public Accounts Committee on his role in the contract award to Electrogas for the construction of a €200 million gas plant to power the entire island.

Mizzi was one of the ministers who resigned in December 2019 following the arrest of Electrogas shareholder Yorgen Fenech on charges of having masterminded the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia.

“In these last two years I have had the opportunity to learn how to place God at the centre of my life,” Mizzi said. “This is a beautiful thing that gives me peace. I hope many more people move closer to the faith.”

Mizzi thanked former staff members and supporters for what he had had been “nine years of work, results, difficulties and lessons.”

He took credit for reductions in energy bills and carbon emissions, his role in reducing out-of-stock medication as health minister, and other events created by the tourism ministry when he stewarded that portfolio.

Evidently, Mizzi shows no regrets for having attempted to hide his secret ownership of the Panama company Hearnville.

“Surely enough I enduered many attacks during these years. But the support of the people helped me soldier on. I’m sure the truth will yet emerge. I harbour no resentment towards anybody and I wish everybody the best.”

Delighted to hear that Konrad Mizzi has found God. He really does work in mysterious ways.

Might I recommend some spiritual reading material to the disgraced ex-minister under criminal investigation:

Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy, a 6th century classic. pic.twitter.com/qqL0XTizMg

— David Casa (@DavidCasaMEP) March 5, 2022

Both Mizzi and Keith Schembri, the former right-hand man to Joseph Muscat, have been slapped with an unprecedented travel sanction by the United States government.

The US Department of State accuse Mizzi and Schembri of having been involved in “corrupt acts that included using their political influence and official power for their personal benefit.”

Specifically, the US government said there was “credible information that Mizzi and Schembri were involved in a corrupt scheme that entailed the award of a government contract for the construction of a power plant and related services in exchange for kickbacks and bribes. Their actions undermined rule of law and the Maltese public’s faith in their government’s democratic institutions and public processes.”

The Department of State also designated Mizzi and Schembri’s immediate family members – Mizzi’s wife, Sai Mizzi Liang, and his two minor children; Schembri’s wife, Josette Schembri Vella, his daughter Juliana Schembri Vella, and his minor child. 

This action renders Mizzi and Schembri, and each of these members of their immediate families, ineligible for entry into the United States.