The Prime Minister’s chief of staff Keith Schembri is expected to be invited to testify before the European Parliament’s Panama Papers inquiry committee, the Sunday Times of Malta has learnt.
Sources close to the committee said a significant number of MEPs on the committee want both Mr Schembri and Minister Without Portfolio Konrad Mizzi to testify.
The fact that Dr Mizzi could be called to give testimony was already public knowledge.
The Panama Papers leak revealed both men had opened secret companies in Panama sheltered by trusts in New Zealand.
Last December, the two men’s financial advisers, Nexia BT, gave the go-ahead to open bank accounts with a Swiss bank’s Panama subsidiary.
Leaked e-mails say that the bank was willing to accept an initial deposit of $100,000 and would close the account if significantly less than $800,000 went into it throughout the year.
Dr Mizzi and Mr Schembri deny that the e-mails refer to them, but the company codes quoted in the subject line match Mossack Fonseca’s codes for Mr Schembri and Dr Mizzi’s Panama companies.
Mossack Fonseca is a Panamanian law firm whose information about its clients’ financial dealings was leaked in Panama Papers.
Dr Mizzi and Mr Schembri have resisted multiple calls for their resignations since the scandal broke in February.
Dr Mizzi had his energy and health portfolios removed in an April reshuffle but continues to take an active role in energy projects.
The Panama Papers inquiry committee has already heard the testimonies of journalists from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) who worked on the massive data leak.
The committee will also be questioning a number of financial experts.
Politicians and politically exposed people who were implicated in the leak are expected to begin testifying next year.
The committee’s chairman, Werner Langen, told this paper that discussions were still under way on the final list of people who would be called to testify.
Dr Mizzi and Mr Schembri have both failed to say if they would appear before the committee if summoned.
The committee’s deputy chairwoman, Ana Gomes, said last month a no-show by Dr Mizzi could lead to Malta facing “political sanctions”.
Ms Gomes said that there were methods of “encouraging cooperation” if countries did not play ball with the inquiry.
A socialist Portuguese MEP who forms part of the S&D group, Ms Gomes said that failure to participate in “serious” inquiries of this nature only raised more concerns. “It suggests that there is something to hide.”
The Prime Minister said last month that the government would consider any invitation by the Panama Papers inquiry committee for Dr Mizzi to appear before it. “There is already a legal opinion on the remit of this committee, but I am not in favour of creating a controversy with any committee of the European Parliament,” he said.
“We do need to engage them, but we must also ensure that the decision Malta takes does not conflict with any decision taken collectively by the Council of Ministers,” Dr Muscat said.
jacob.borg@timesofmalta.com