Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi is asking the Inland Revenue Commissioner to investigate him and the trust he set up in New Zealand which acquired the shelf company set up in blacklisted Panama.
“I have absolutely nothing to hide. I set up the trust along with my wife to manage our assets which are both financial and properties in the UK and Malta,” he said.
“My family has done a lot for me and I am a father and a husband and I think it is only fair that I give them something back,” the minister, who is facing a political storm over his financial choices, said.
In an interview appearing in tomorrow’s edition of The Sunday Times of Malta, Dr Mizzi explained how he and his wife, Sai Mizzi Liang, had approached local financial advisors in 2014 to look into how best to manage their wealth. He was directed to financial advisors in New Zealand who suggested setting up a trust there.
The advisors advised me to acquire a company from Panama in view of cost-effectiveness; I didn’t give it much thought and gave them the go-ahead- Konrad Mizzi
In view of country restrictions, Dr Mizzi could not set up a company there but had to acquire a company from elsewhere. “The advisors advised me to acquire a company from Panama in view of cost-effectiveness; I didn’t give it much thought and gave them the go-ahead.”
He said he became the owner of Hearnville Incorporated on June 2, 2015. It was a shelf company set up in about 2013. “It is a shelf company. It never traded, has no assets, no liabilities and I had no share in it before I purchased it for a nominal fee that was incorporated in the amount paid to the advisors who manage the trust.”
Rotorua Trust was created on July 22, 2015, as a family estate and family planning structure with a long-term horizon through Orion Trust New
Zealand Limited, which is the trustee. The trust is open for 79 years and 11 months.
In the frank interview, Dr Mizzi said he did not feel the controversy that surrounded his trust had embarrassed him or Prime Minister Joseph Muscat in any way. It would have been embarrassing had he done something illegal or failed to declare it.
Read more in The Sunday Times of Malta tomorrow.