Prime Minister Joseph Muscat this evening challenged Opposition Leader Simon Busuttil to name the owner of the third secret Panama company because, he said, “I have nothing on my conscience to hide”.

Dr Muscat was reacting to Dr Busuttil’s questions following a ministerial statement on last week’s EU leaders’ summit.

Dr Busuttil said he wanted to again address questions which Dr Muscat did not answer yesterday after the statement by Minister Konrad Mizzi on the St George’s tourism project on the land of the ITS.

"Would he confirm that Sai Mizzi was still employed by the Malta government at the obscene salary of €13,000 a month. Was the Prime Minister a hostage of Dr Mizzi who in turn was a hostage of his wife?

"From where would Dr Mizzi and Keith Schembri get the promised €1 million a year to invest in their Panama companies?

"Who owns the third Panama company, Egrant? The official who opened it sits in Castille."

The Prime Minister said Dr Busuttil’s intervention was, in a political sense, a debase attack.  At every chance and occasion, Dr Busuttil sought only to insult and stoop to the lowest level of the political discussion.

Dr Muscat challenged Dr Busuttil to name the owner of Egrant because “on my conscience, I have absolutely nothing to hide”.

“And when Dr Busuttil is on his sincerity stint, he should tell us where the commission on the sale of the Lowenbrau brewery went."

The Prime Minister also asked Dr Busuttil whether he was comfortable with PN deputy leader Beppe Fenech Adami’s role as director of a company connected to drug trafficking.

In a clear reference to Daphne Caruana Galizia, the Prime Minister asked Dr Busuttil to say why he choose to defend those who attacked people, and how he did not defend Mario de Marco who had been attacked by that same person. “Perhaps he would tell us how he chooses his priorities,” he quipped.

In his statement, Dr Muscat said the focal point of the deal signed in the informal EU summit on migration which took place in Malta last Friday was to send a “strong signal” that genuine refugees were welcome. However, people were not to use illegal channels to circumvent visa procedures.

The Prime Minister also addressed US President Trump’s ban on seven Muslim countries and consequently the suspension of the relocation programme. The US was a crucial partner to the EU, he said, but the government’s position had been clear from the start. Any reservations should not lead to anti-US sentiment. One needed further engagement with the Americans, while saying what one believed to be true.

“We do not agree with banning people just because they come from a particular country. We are disappointed that the relocation programme has been suspended. We will be observing the action of the USA government, but this does highlight how one cannot be dependent on anybody else.” 

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