[WATCH] ‘Muscat must resign after lying to defend Konrad Mizzi' - PN

PN say Muscat must resign after lying about Konrad Mizzi

The Nationalist Party has reiterated their call on Joseph Muscat to resign as Prime Minister, this time accusing him of lying when he said that energy minister Konrad Mizzi had set up his offshore Panamanian trust for estate management purposes.

“E-mails show that Mizzi and [OPM chief of staff] Keith Schembri had told banks that they had opened their companies to deposit money earned through management consultancy and brokerage,” shadow Gozo minister Chris Said told a press conference. “When the banks weren’t satisfied with their explanation, they changed their tune and said that they opened the companies to channel profits from recycling and gaming companies.”

He showed the press a clip of an interview with Muscat on Dissett that aired last month, in which the Prime Minister said that he would sack Mizzi on the spot if an audit investigation uncovers hidden assets in his offshore company.

“Muscat said that he would fire Mizzi if he was caught lying, but it is clear that his explanation that he had set up the company for estate management purposes was a lie in itself,” he said. "Yet Mizzi has not been fired. Using Muscat's own yardstick, he must now resign himself." 

Shadow health minister Claudete Buttigieg questioned why Muscat didn’t suspend Mizzi and Schembri as soon as he found out about their offshore interests.

“If Muscat had truly been kept in the dark, then his instinct reaction upon finding out would surely have been to fire, or at least suspend them on the spot,” she said. “Mizzi and Schembri are his closest aides and if Muscat had been unaware of their financial set-ups, it would mean that they had betrayed his trust.”

She dismissed the audits into Mizzi’s and Schembri’s companies as a sham, arguing that they chose Panama as a jurisdiction specifically to conceal assets.