[WATCH] Joseph Muscat will not act on 17 Black revelations until judicial inquiries are over

The Prime Minister has repeated the same reply he has been giving for months that he will decide on the future of Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri only after the conclusion of magisterial inquiries that are underway

9 November 2018, 9:18pm
by Massimo Costa

2 min read

Joseph Muscat took questions about 17 Black on Friday night after attending a public consultation on European affairs

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Joseph Muscat responds to questions on 17 Black ownership

Joseph Muscat has said that he would be waiting for ongoing investigations and inquiries to take their course before deciding what to do in light of the latest revelations regarding 17 Black’s ownership.

The Prime Minister said he had no way of ascertaining the veracity or otherwise of the information published today that Yorgen Fenech, the Tumas Group CEO and investor in the Electrogas consortium, is the owner of 17 Black.

“The facts are that there are independent investigations and inquiries, requested by members of the Opposition, on this matter and I will wait for these to take their course, as I said from the start. I will then take the decisions which I have to take," Muscat said in his first comments this evening after the revelations were published by Reuters and the Times of Malta.

In April this year, Muscat’s Chief of Staff Keith Schembri admitted that 17 Black was included in the business plan for his Panama company, Tillgate Inc, and that it was a “target client”. 17 Black had been identified as a target client also for Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi's Panama company Hearnville.

However, pressed on whether, despite the facts that have emerged, he still refuses to take action against Mizzi and Schembri, the Prime Minister insisted he could not ascertain that the information published by the media was correct.

“I don’t know which facts you know. What I know is that there was an article which referred to documents that emerged from investigations being conducted by the Maltese authorities. From what I heard, Opposition leader Adrian Delia said he couldn’t swear that the information which emerged is correct," Muscat said.

PD calls for police investigation into 17 Black allegations

Massimo Costa joined MaltaToday as a journalist in 2017.