[WATCH] Edward Scicluna: 'Muscat needs me by his side to repair Malta's reputation'

Edward Scicluna: 'Muscat needs me by his side to repair Malta's reputation'

Finance minister Edward Scicluna has said that Joseph Muscat needs him by his side as deputy prime minister so that he can repair Malta's reputation, which he warned has been tarnished by reports declaring the island to be a tax haven.

A day before the PL deputy leadership election, Scicluna told a press conference that the reputational damage done to Malta's tax regime risks undermining jobs, and that the new deputy prime minister must be placed in charge of a mission to fix this damage.

"I am not exaggerating here; we must go on a roadshow to European capitals and speak to governments, banks and regulatory authorities, like the Turkish government does when it wants to sell off bonds," he said.

"This is the biggest challenge that the new deputy prime minister will face, and he must be competent enough to fully understand our tax regime and to decipher the truth from fake news.”

He denied that Malta’s reputational damage stemmed from the Prime Minister’s refusal to fire his chief of staff Keith Schembri and tourism minister Konrad Mizzi after they were implicated in the Panama Papers.

“The true damage comes from attacks on Malta’s tax regime, and therefore our competitiveness,” he said. “Before the election, certain people mixed up issues related to our tax regime with issues of transparency and money laundering so as to portray Malta as some sort o tax haven like Panama.

“The truth is that Malta isn’t a secretive country, full of money laundering, mafia, Russians and offshore companies.”

Scicluna reiterated that Joseph Muscat had specifically asked him to run for the deputy leadership position right after his re-appointment as finance minster, but played down reports that the Prime Minister is favouring him for the job.

"I always say the truth, and what I said wasnt exactly a secret - Muscat had asked me to contest the deputy leadership post in the presence of two high officials," he said. "He didn't tell me that I was his chosen one or that I wasn't going to be facing competition. He just told me that he wanted me to contest, no more and no less."

‘The man behind the curtains’

Scicluna will contest Thursday’s election against health minister Chris Fearne and equality minister Helena Dalli. His campaign has been significantly more low-key than his Cabinet colleagues, without even an official launch or campaign slogan.

He told the press that he didn’t want to waste time with campaign slogans, because “the less said, the better, and what you see is what you get”.

“My question to Labour delegates is simple: what do you think Muscat needs for the next five years? He needs someone by his side to fix this reputational damage, and I have built up international credibility over the years.”

He added that he harbours no leadership ambitions, but is purely interested in serving Malta and Muscat.

In a pitch to Labour delegates, Scicluna recounted how his experience with the party stretches back decades, with the large chunk of it being in advisory roles behind the scenes.

“Because of my academic nature, my work within the party was always on a leadership level – working with Dom Mintoff, Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici, Alfred Sant and now Joseph Muscat,” he said. “Top Labour officials know that I have always been involved in the party behind the curtains, and that I had provided economic advice throughout.”