The European Parliament fact-finding mission on the rule of law in Malta is being treated as a continuation of the investigation carried out last February on Malta’s connections to the Panama Papers, according to EP sources who spoke to The Sunday Times of Malta ahead of Thursday’s visit.
“This mission is linked to the Panama Papers probe for the simple reason that Ms Caruana Galizia had written extensively on these revelations and her killing is a very sad development,” sources close to the delegation said.
The development followed the recent debate on the situation in Malta, which was held during a plenary session at the European Parliament in Strasbourg. A resolution calling on the European Commission to start a dialogue with Malta on the functioning of the rule of law was overwhelmingly approved by MEPs.
Ms Caruana Galizia had written extensively on the revelations
Though the list of names forming this delegation has not yet been formally approved, it will consist of MEPs from the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs, as well as the Pana Committee. The latter is familiar with the local context, having sent a separate delegation last February to probe issues of money laundering and corruption.
The mission was triggered by the Panama Papers which revealed that then Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi and the Prime Minister’s chief of staff Keith Schembri had secret companies.
While Dr Mizzi had accepted the committee’s invitation to be grilled on the matter, Mr Schembri had refused. However, head of delegation Werner Langen had subsequently been handed “confidential documents” while walking down St Paul’s Street in Valletta by a messenger sent by Mr Schembri himself.
The documents included a letter which was a reply by the chief of staff to the invitation sent to him a month before, in which Mr Schembri questioned the committee’s mandate to carry out such an investigation.
This time around Mr Schembri, along with the Prime Minister, Commissioner of Police, and Attorney General are among the list of persons who have been sent an invite by the fact-finding mission on the rule of law.
However, by the time of writing none of them replied when asked by this newspaper if they would be accepting the invitation.
Meanwhile, the Times of Malta yesterday quoted a government spokesman who said that the Prime Minister was always willing to engage with MEPs, while insisting they had not yet received an invitation.