[WATCH] ‘Trust was always about family estate planning,’ Konrad Mizzi tells MEPs

Konrad Mizzi faces PANA committee

OPM Minister Konrad Mizzi, exposed by the Panama Papers of having setup an offshore company in Panama and a trust in the New Zealand, published an audit report of Rotorua Trust.

Like Keith Schembri’s audit, Mizzi’s audit was carried out by Crowe Horwath.

Mizzi this afternoon met MEPs from a European Parliament committee who are investigating tax avoidance and the implementation of anti-money laundering law across the EU member states.

The committee, known as the PANA committee, was set up following the Panama Papers revelations. Mizzi was the only serving EU minister to have featured in the leaks.

The former energy minister – today minister within the Office of the Prime Minister – told the MEPs of his work which resulted in lower energy tariffs, the elimination of out-of-stock medicine and the reduction in hospital waiting times.

“I was key to the attraction of the largest foreign investment initiatives ever recorded in my country, and to the launch of citizen-centric projects,” Mizzi said.

In full: Konrad Mizzi’s declaration • Rotorua Trust’s audited accounts

He told the MEPs that as a reaction to this, the PN “orchestrated a character assassination campaign … but the real aim was to bring down a government that brought tangible benefits to the population”.

Mizzi added that in setting up the “family trust structure”, he exposed his family and himself to “an unprecedented level of unfair criticism”.

“With hindsight, I accept that I should not have given such a sensational opportunity to my political opponents.”

He went on to explain how the trust and company were set up – adding that this was based on advice he received. Mizzi made use of Nexia BT’s services.

“The setting up of a solid structure to preserve my family’s assets, wherever they may be over time, was a legitimate and logical option for us and, based on advice we obtained at the time, we pursued the setting up of a trust structure.”

He told the MEPs that he and his wife – Sai Mizzi Liang who is Malta Enterprise’s special envoy to Asia – live in different continents.

Mizzi said he regretted that members of the PANA committee have made “politically-charged statements”.

“To those of you who have made my political adversaries’ agenda your own, I say that your words and your actions are obviously incompatible with your role within a committee that is supposedly impervious to political influence.”

Mizzi asked the MEPs how could he have a fair hearing if members of the committee took a stand before he was heard. He accused those who “lent support to the PN” as being “afflicted by a manifest conflict of interest, jeopardising the objectivity of the committee.”

He described allegations made by PN leader Simon Busuttil of plans to deposit a million dollars every year as fabricated. “This is a blatant lie… he cowered under parliamentary protection.”

Mizzi said that he never hid the fact that he was a politically-exposed person.