Joseph Muscat chose not to wait for the outcome of the magisterial inquiry into the ownership of the secret offshore company Egrant before calling a general election, but at the same time he is refusing to go before a European Parliament committee investigating the Panama Papers before the conclusion of the local inquiry.

If he is so convinced, as he so confusingly argues, that the inquiry will clear his name and that of his wife, there is all the more reason for him to appear before the committee, not run away from it, as his chief of staff, Keith Schembri, has done twice already.

In any case, there is much more to the whole story now than the offshore companies which cabinet minister Konrad Mizzi and Schembri secretly opened in Panama shortly after the last election. Although Muscat’s government was first brought into disrepute by the action of these two men, there are now the allegations over the ownership of the third company, Egrant, and the money received from Azerbaijan, and, equally damning, over the kickbacks Schembri is claimed to have received from the sale of Maltese passports.

Although all the people involved in this still-evolving saga have denied the allegations against them, the claims and devious manner in which the government and public institutions, particularly the police, have handled the issue have raised strong national alarm and disquiet.

Nationalist Party leader Simon Busuttil is claiming he has proof showing that Schembri has received from Brian Tonna, of Nexia BT, two payments of €50,000 each from the sale of passports to three Russian nationals. Defending his name, Schembri claims the money paid was in settlement of a loan.

Dr Busuttil passed on the information he had in his possession to the magistrate inquiring into the allegations over the Egrant ownership. The latest development now is that the magistrate has concluded that, on the basis of the information presented to him, the necessary legal prerequisites existed to prompt a separate investigation. The prerequisites are that the crime carries more than a three-year jail term and that the evidence requires immediate preservation.

Unsurprisingly, Muscat has downplayed the significance of the magistrate’s decision, arguing the issue was unrelated to the original inquiry. No one, least of all Dr Busuttil, has said it was. What Dr Busuttil did was acting immediately upon receipt of the information he had received.

At the same time, the European Parliament committee investigating the Panama Paper leaks wants to get to the bottom of the other claims, those over the offshore companies held by Mizzi, Schembri, and the owner of Egrant.

Schembri has arrogantly wriggled out of calls to appear before the MEPs and the committee is now expecting the Labour leader to give a “public explanation” of the latest claims. Muscat and Schembri’s behaviour has been described as “particularly astonishing”.

Particularly worrying is the harm all this is doing to Malta’s reputation. One MEP has gone so far as saying that the EU’s credibility is at stake as Malta holds the EU’s presidency at a time when it is negotiating a revision of the anti-money laundering standards.

There is no end to the twists and turns the plot is taking, which is one reason why Muscat has called an early election.