PN accuses Muscat of 'treating public like idiots' over Panama audit claims

The Nationalist Party has accused the Prime Minister of "treating people like idiots" when he said that he will fire Konrad Mizzi if an audit uncovers money hidden within the energy minister’s offshore Panama company.

Joseph Muscat said on Dissett this week that he will fire Mizzi if two separate investigations – by the Inland Revenue Commissioner and an as-yet unnamed audit firm – reveal that his company had ever contained money.

However, PN MEP and shadow education minister Therese Comodini Cachia told a press conference that Panamanian law prohibits a proper, transparent investigation of the company.

“People setting up companies in Panama are not obliged to file annual tax returns and financial statements, nor to submit annual accounts, records or audits,” she said. “Sensitive information about shareholders and beneficial owners is not filed with the Panamanian Registry of companies, and there are no foreign exchange controls or restrictions on the free movement of currency.”

Moreover, she noted that Panama permits offshore companies to issue bearer shares, which would have allowed Mizzi to transfer ownership of the company simply by handing the physical certificate to a third party. 

She also dismissed Muscat’s argument that the Inland Revenue Commissioner has every right to obtain information from New Zealand - the location of Mizzi’s trust that contains his Panamanian company -because of a double taxation agreement between it and Malta.

“New Zealand is unable to provide the Commissioner with information about Mizzi’s shell company. Do the investigators and the public have to rely on the word of a minister who has already lied about his financial set-up?

"Besides, the issue is not about how much money Mizzi has, but about the very fact that a minister set up a company in a secretive jurisdiction that is commonly used for money laundering.”

She cited a report by the UN and World Bank that found that shell companies are frequently used in corruption cases, and that Panama is the third-most popular country in the world for people wishing to launder their money.

“Muscat should have known about all this from the start, and he is now trying to deceive the public by pledging to conduct an investigation, that will in actuality have nothing to go on.”

‘Serious questions over Muscat’s secret Azerbaijan visit

The Nationalist MEP warned that “serious and justified” questions are now being asked over Muscat’s visit to Azerbaijan in December 2014, accompanied solely by his chief of staff Keith Schembri, his communications chief Kurt Farrugia, and Konrad Mizzi.

Mizzi and Schembri both set up trusts in New Zealand shortly before their trip to Azerbaijan, that was only made public thanks to the Azeri press.

“It’s notable that the visit coincided with the establishment of the trust and Mizzi’s order to Enemalta to hedge fuel with [Azeri state-owned oil company] Socar,” she said. “If the allegations of a link between the visit and the trusts were unfounded, then I would have expected the Prime Minister to file libel charges against the journalists who came up with claims, or at the very least to deny them outright.

“The fact that he hasn’t yet denied it is only fueling suspicions.”

She described Azerbaijan as “the most corrupt country in the world”, with a foul human rights record and said that a future PN government will reassess Malta’s relationship with the Caucasus country.

“The government certainly shouldn’t negotiate with a country like Azerbaijan in a manner that will stain Malta’s reputation,” she said.