The Prime Minister’s chief of staff, Keith Schembri, has denied his company, Kasco Holdings, has a presence in the British Virgin Islands and Panama.

He was replying to questions by the Times of Malta after documentary evidence emerged of a company registered in Panama in the name of “Kasco Holding”.

“Kasco has no presence in the British Virgin Islands and Panama and any evidence to the contrary does not exist,” Mr Schembri said.

This denial raises questions because Mr Schembri told this newspaper last week there was “no news” with regard to the British Virgin Islands company, which he had “never denied”.

The Times of Malta revealed documented proof last week showing that Mr Schembri had a company in the British Virgin Islands, considered by many to be a tax haven.

Now, this newspaper has seen Panamanian company registration documents dating back to before the March 2013 election showing the existence of a “Kasco Holding” company. Mr Schembri said the question was an exercise in “unfounded speculation”.

Tracing the ownership of shell companies – which have no employees or offices – is next to impossible in Panama because the point of setting up companies in that country is precisely to keep ownership confidential.

“I can assure you that no evidence exists,” Mr Schembri said.

Kasco has no presence in the British Virgin Islands and Panama

It has been alleged that both Mr Schembri and Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi opened companies in Panama as part of a complex trust structure set up in December 2014.

Much like Panama, the British Virgin Islands requires minimal details for the registration of a company and does not tax profits earned offshore. No details on who the directors, shareholders and beneficial owners need to be filed there, nor any annual returns or audited accounts.

Official returns show that Kasco Holdings in Malta has been losing money over the past years despite revenues running into millions.

The company’s accounts are audited locally by Nexia BT, the same company that, according to the Prime Minister, offered the “naïve and politically insensitive advice” to both Mr Schembri and Dr Mizzi, which led them to set up their controversial trust structures with companies in Panama.

Both Mr Schembri and Dr Mizzi have said they will undergo an independent audit of their financial set-ups despite Panama’s notorious secrecy laws.

The jurisdiction has ignored the majority of requests for information sent by Malta’s anti-money laundering agency (FIAU) for 10 years.

The FIAU has received hardly any cooperation from the Panamanian authorities over the past years in its anti-money laundering investigations.

The anti-money laundering agency publishes an annual report in which it lists the requests for cooperation and assistance with foreign jurisdictions in its investigations.

An analysis of the 10 reports published by the agency between 2004 and 2014 shows that the majority of requests sent to the Panamanian anti-money-laundering authorities were ignored.

Only five of the 13 requests received any response from the Panamanian authorities.

jacob.borg@timesofmalta.com