Energy and Health Minister Konrad Mizzi yesterday insisted that he has been “faithful and correct” throughout the revelations that he has a secret company in Panama sheltered by a New Zealand trust.
Questioned outside Parliament yesterday, Dr Mizzi refused to say why he tried to open up a bank account in Dubai for his newly set up offshore financial vehicle.
Dr Mizzi was slight more forthcoming inside Parliament, insisting that he never opened a bank account or filled in an application for a bank account, although a bank account would have been needed had he rented his property.
Dr Mizzi refused to supply this newspaper with a list of the overseas trips he made in 2015, including visits to jurisdictions related to this scandal including Dubai and Panama.
Parliamentary questions on his travel last year also remained unanswered.
Last Sunday, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists named Dr Mizzi as one of the politicians involved in the scandal and confirmed that the minister had opened a trust in New Zealand and a trading company in Panama.
According to the new revelations, last August, Dr Mizzi attempted to open two bank accounts for his Panama trading company, first in an unnamed bank in Dubai and then in FPB bank in Panama.
Neither of the two banks accepted opening the accounts, and Mossack Fonseca, the legal firm from Panama embroiled in the international scandal, sought assistance from two persons (who remain unnamed) to help with opening the accounts.
In a statement issued late on Sunday night, Minister Mizzi played down the new revelations and said that the information confirmed his version of events.
“The Trust and related documents published have been made available to journalists from the very start,” he said.
The Times of Malta has sent 14 reminders to Dr Mizzi to provide it with a copy of the Trust deed. The Minister never acceded this request.
In his statement, Dr Mizzi did not refer to the attempts he made to open bank accounts in Dubai and Pamana but said that these were made by his service provider “as part of the service that was offered to me”.