Updated | 'Magistrate unable to say Muscat is guiltless': Caruana Galizia family reacts to Egrant inquiry

Updated at 1:30pm with government reaction

The family of Daphne Caruana Galizia has said Magistrate Aaron Bugeja’s Egrant inquiry did not succeed in establishing who the ultimate beneficial owner of the Panamanian company Egrant is.

In a statement issued the day after the conclusions of the inquiry were published, the family said that the Maltese public could not be expected to “simply accept as fact” that it won’t be known for whom Egrant Inc was set up.

“When Magistrate Bugeja’s inquiry went on for several months longer than the Labour Party expected, many hoped its findings would be conclusive. That was always a false hope and one Daphne Caruana Galizia never shared,” read the statement.

The family stressed that the only reason the name of the company’s owner did not become known to the public in the Panama Papers was because Nexia BT’s Karl Cini gave Mossack Fonseca the name over Skype.

It added that Caruana Galizia had “predicted that Magistrate Bugeja would find it impossible to prove or disprove that Michelle Muscat was the ultimate beneficial owner of the company because he would be unable to prove the identity of the company’s ultimate beneficial owner”.

“As Daphne Caruana Galizia also predicted, the UAE, where it was claimed that Egrant Inc. held a bank account, has failed to respond to Magistrate Bugeja’s request for information,” the family said.

The family insisted that for the whole truth to come out, Maltese authorities must investigate Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi, chief of staff Keith Schembri, Nexia BT managing partner Brian Tonna, Nexia BT partner Karl Cini “and the remaining staff at Pilatus Bank”.

Finally, the family questioned why the Prime Minister had not yet fired Schembri and Mizzi, why Tonna’s firm was still involved in government business and why Muscat was not interested in finding out the actual or intended ultimate beneficial owner of Egrant.

“The answers to these questions are unlikely to exonerate Joseph Muscat. Malta needs the whole truth and Joseph Muscat still holds the key,” the family said.

Inquiry leaves no doubt the allegations were false and fabricated

Reacting to the family's statement the government pointed out that the inquiry report left "no doubt that allegations against the Prime Minister's wife Michelle Muscat and the Prime Minister himself were false and fabricated". 

"It is conclusive anc clear, and Mrs Caruana Galizia herself had shown her confidence in the process by testifying before the inquiring magistrate," the government said.

"One notes that the statement by the family does not refer to the inquiry’s key finding by international forensic experts that what Caruana Galizia and her source Maria Efimova referred to as proof, namely declarations of trust, were forged documents with falsified signatures."

Moreover, it said that "the fact that the family does not contest that the documents were forged means that they accept the conclusion that someone actually falsified the documents used by Mrs Caruana Galizia to base her story".

"The family could help shed light by stating whether they were aware of this fact," it added.

The government stressed that there was national consensus about the trustworthiness and independence of the magistrate who conducted the inquiry which has conlcuded unequivocally that the allegations about Joseph Muscat and his wife Michelle were false.

"The inquiry speaks for itself. The government will not engage on facts proven by the inquiry itself, but will object on further statements intended at continuing what is by now certified as the greatest lie in Malta's political history".