Revelations made through The Sunday Times of Malta and The Malta Independent on Sunday prove that the Panama Papers scandal is not fading away. Quite the contrary. The plot thickens.

We now learn that the Prime Minister’s most trusted minister and his chief of staff did not wish Maltese banks to learn about their New Zealand trusts. So much for the claim that they wanted to be transparent about everything that they were up to.

We also learn that they specifically replied “No” to the question: “Do you wish the accounts of the trust to be audited?”

Particularly worrying is the justification given for the setting up of the secret companies after both individuals had entered into positions of power.

The justification included “trade in used tyre”’ and “waste trading”. The most trusted minister is described as having had expertise in such services.

Didn’t the same minister repeatedly tell us that his only purpose was to use the secret company to manage his properties in London and Malta? Are these properties stacked with waste or used tyres?

How can a minister engage even remotely in such trading activities and through his financial advisor boast about his experience in the sector to justify that he wants to carry on trading in waste when he has just been appointed a senior minister for the government?

Particularly worrying is the justification given for the setting up of the secret companies after both individuals had entered into positions of power

How can the Prime Minister’s chief of staff equally set up another secret company to engage in the same sector – leading the trustees to enquire further about the “joint venture” resulting between these two individuals? The chief of staff already had two if not three more secret companies before assuming his new role. So why on earth did he need a new one after assuming a role which brings him officially into the league of politically exposed persons?

Over the weekend we also learnt of a capital injection (or was it just a movement?) of three-quarters-of a-million dollars into one of the secret companies owned by the chief of staff. That happened in 2014. Didn’t he say that he had distanced himself totally from the management of his companies when he assumed his new role? Distanced in favour of whom? In favour of persons who are caught up in the same scandal and who are under his control?

Then, on Monday, this newspaper revealed that, as recently as last December, Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri were trying to open accounts with a Swiss bank’s Panama subsidiary in favour of their secret companies. More revelations keep exposing the lies that are dished out by the government and by Labour.

By the way, didn’t the Prime Minister promise to dismiss any minister found out with a Swiss account? Or was this one more standard inquiry? And why are all these ‘inquiries’ done in parallel – in perfect tandem between the two people still occupying the same posts and still trusted by the Prime Minister?

To confound issues, the Labour propaganda machine tries to implicate members of the legal profession and auditors who, while not occupying any executive position in the country, obtain a licence from the Malta Financial Services Authority to provide fiduciary services.

Only the most gullible allow themselves to equate that kind of professional work with the scandalous behaviour at the very heart of the present government. Labour’s key strategy: lies and more lies.

Last Sunday, Nationalist Party leader Simon Busuttil offered a breath of fresh air. He wants to lead a government where political honesty will bring light in what is at present a dark and enclosed room. Opening doors and windows – letting in light and fresh air. Restoring truth as a value. Regaining trust. An end to lies.

It is our duty to join him, irrespective of different political leanings, in this mission – making us proud to be, first and foremost, Maltese.

Francis Zammit Dimech is a Nationalist MP.

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