Nationalist MPs walked out from Parliament en masse this evening as soon as Minister Konrad Mizzi rose to make a ministerial statement - but they were soon back in to ask questions and each held a board saying Jien m’għandix kumpanija sigrieta fil-Panama and 'I do not have a secret company in Panama'.
Dr Mizzi made a ministerial statement on the government agreement with db San Ġorġ Property Limited for a €300 million investment.
Most questions were directed at Dr Mizzi and the prime minister on the Panama companies and Sai Mizzi’s employment contract.
The first salvo was fired by Opposition leader Simon Busuttil who said it was a mistake and an insult to the House and to the people that Dr Mizzi addressed parliament.
He later asked about Mrs Mizzi’s contract and how Dr Mizzi was to deposit €1 million in his secret company through commissions.
He then asked Dr Muscat to tell the nation who owned the third Panama company.
He also put a declaration on the table of the House stating that he did not have a secret company in Panama and challenged the prime minister and all government MPs to do the same.
Ryan Callus asked why the prime minister had entrusted this project to Dr Mizzi and not to Parliamentary Secretary Deborah Schembri, who is responsible for lands.
Kristy Debono asked what had happened to the FIAU report on Panama. Did former Commissioner of Police Michael Cassar have meetings with the Prime Minister on the subject? Why had no steps been taken against fraud and money laundering? When was Manfred Galdes’ successor as the director general of FIAU to be appointed?
Jason Azzopardi asked whether it was true that Malta had voted against an EU public prosecutors office to counter moneylaundering. This was the more serious as Malta had the EU presidency, he said.
Robert Cutajar asked what had happened to the promised financial audit on Dr Mizzi and Claudette Buttigieg whether it was true that Mrs Mizzi’s contract was extended.
But none of these questions were answered by either Dr Mizzi or the prime minister.
Concluding, Dr Mizzi said that if Dr Busuttil looked around him he would see that he had three shadow ministers who were implicated in fraudulent funds that also implied drug trafficking, pensions funds fraud and land deals which the Auditor General said Dr Jason Azzopardi should carry political responsibility for.
“Whathever the Opposition says,” Dr Mizzi said, “the government is determined to carry out its agenda.”
Earlier, when the Speaker called on Dr Mizzi to start his ministerial statement, Dr Busuttil told him that the PN members would be walking out of the Chamber since they did not acknowledge the legitimacy of a minister who has a secret company in Panama.
He said they would come back later to ask questions to the Prime Minister “who is the minister responsible for the sector”.