The Opposition leader today urged the Prime Minister to sack Minister Konrad Mizzi and his chief of staff Keith Schembri in the "national interest", amid revelations of their connection to the Panama cable leaks.

Failure to do so would mean the Prime Minister has no choice but to step down himself, Simon Busuttil said.

Dr Busuttil was speaking after a major leak of documents from a Panamanian law firm last night allegedly showed how clients avoided tax or laundered money.    

Dr Mizzi is the only EU minister implicated in the leaks.

"A minister from supposedly the best Cabinet in Malta’s history has been caught up in the biggest corruption scandal in the world," Dr Busuttil told reporters.

Maybe they wanted a commission on the sale of Enemalta? A commission on the sale of the BWSC power station? A commission on the purchase of oil?

He recalled that Dr Mizzi had signed massive contracts on behalf of the government which had remained under wraps.

Dr Mizzi and the Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff Keith Schembri held secret companies and they were listed in the Panama Papers alongside people such as Azerbaijan dictator Ilham Aliyev and people close to the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

The leaks had also shown that both Dr Mizzi and Mr Schembri had tried to open accounts in at least two countries – the United Arab Emirates and Panama – but failed to do so because the banks demanded a set of conditions. They wanted to ensure that their money did not come from corruption.

Dr Mizzi and Mr Schembri told the banks they wanted the accounts to deposit funds from consultancy and brokerage.

“What brokerage did they want to carry out if not bribery and corruption? Maybe a commission on the sale of Enemalta? A commission on the sale of the BWSC power station? A commission on the purchase of oil? A commission on the purchase of gas for the new power station? A commission for the sale of the Gozo, St Luke’s and Karin Grech hospitals? A commission on the sale of citizenship? A commission on the sale of visas in Algeria? A commission on the building of the new power station?”

Dr Busuttil asked whether Mr Schembri had opened his company in Panama for somebody else since  he already had one in the British Virgin Islands.

“These questions are very serious. At the very top of government there are clear indications of corruption. And these impact directly Konrad Mizzi, Keith Schembri, and yes, even the Prime Minister.”

He questioned the credibility of the Prime Minister who said he became aware of the secret company three weeks before Dr Mizzi was elected Labour Party deputy leader.

Konrad Mizzi

Dr Busuttil listed a series of what he claimed were “lies” leading to the Panama scandal: Dr Muscat had lied when he said Dr Mizzi had declared everything when nothing had been declared to the Tax Commissioner. The minister had lied when he claimed he would invest his property into the secret company since the same property had a hypothec with the bank. 

This whole controversy was leading to uncertainty and posing a threat to the very important financial services sector, Dr Busuttil warned.

It was ironic that Dr Muscat last year had said he was prepared to sack anybody connected to the Swissleaks scandal last year and yet he had failed to act on the Panama scandal.

Dr Busuttil did not exclude any action by the PN, including a vote of no confidence in the minister if Dr Muscat failed to act.

The  prime minister's failure to act had shamed Malta and he warned that unless immediate action was taken, there was a serious risk that the economy would be harmed, particularly the financial services industry.

Dr Muscat's failure to act meant that he had either lost control of the situation, or else he was involved himself. It was either one or the other, Dr Busuttil said.