The head of the European Parliament’s Panama Papers committee, Werner Langen, accused Prime Minister Joseph Muscat of setting MEPs “on the wrong track” during an address last week.

Reacting to MEPs’ comments that the Panama Papers scandal was not being investigated, Dr Muscat told a European Parliament plenary session about the rule of law in Malta that four independent magisterial inquiries were in progress and would establish whether there was scope for prosecution.

The debate saw a heated exchange between Dr Muscat and Mr Langen about the Panama Papers leaks.

The Prime Minister accused MEPs of being ill-equipped with facts for the debate and Mr Langen warned Dr Muscat he would not let him get off scot-free.

Mr Langen said this week only one of the inquiries was linked to the Panama Papers. A magisterial inquiry had been opened to probe claims the Panama company Egrant is owned by Dr Muscat’s wife, which she denies.

Two separate inquiries are being conducted on the basis of leaked reports drawn up by the government’s anti-money laundering agency (FIAU), which raised suspicions of money laundering by the Prime Minister’s chief of staff.

A fourth inquiry was opened on the behest of Pilatus Bank in a bid to find the source of a leaked FIAU compliance report highlighting shortcomings at the bank.

During his opening remarks at a Pana committee meeting earlier this week, Mr Langen said there was heavy criticism of the way in which the facts were presented by Prime Minister Muscat during last week’s plenary session.

He also noted the “strong attacks” on both himself and other MEPs by certain political groups and referred to remarks by former General Workers’ Union secretary general, Tony Zarb, who said the Pana chairman should be declared persona non grata.

Mr Langen told MEPs he was not prepared to allow a “former socialist leader” decide how the Pana committee operated.

He is insisting that the whole issue of the Panama Papers in Malta had to be addressed.