The Prime Minister’s chief of staff, Keith Schembri, has refused to explain why his local financial representatives Nexia BT tried to open up bank accounts in Panama and Dubai for his secret company in Panama.
The Panama Papers, a cache of documents leaked from Panama law firm Mossack Fonseca and revealed by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists on Sunday, show that Nexia BT tried to open up the bank accounts on Mr Schembri’s behalf without revealing the real owner.
Mr Schembri and Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi used New Zealand’s secrecy laws to set up two offshore trusts.
These were to be linked to a secret Dubai bank account and to two Panama companies that Mr Schembri and Dr Mizzi set up in 2013, according to the leaked documents reported in the Australian Financial Review.
The Panama Papers show he tried to open up a bank account through the Panama company. This would have served to further conceal his ownership of the account and make any funds deposited untraceable.
Leaked e-mails revealed in the Australian Financial Review show that Mossack Fonseca demanded to know the real owner of the bank account. Once Mr Schembri’s identity was made known to the law firm, it queried the potential corruption risk, given his status as a politically exposed person.
Mossack Fonseca in Panama flagged “negative coverage” regarding a tender for the supply of paper to the government shortly after his appointment as chief of staff. Mossack Fonseca also seriously queried the purported use of Mr Schembri’s company as a “management consultancy and brokerage firm”.
FPB Bank in Panama refused to open up the account for Mr Schembri’s company, and the Australian Financial Review reports that “no further mention” was made of the Dubai accounts.
The Australian Financial Review also revealed that Mr Schembri set up a company in the British Virgin Islands in 2011, together with the managing director of Mr Schembri’s company Kasco Holdings Limited.
Mr Schembri has never acknowledged owning the Panama company.
He says his affairs will be audited by a private company and denies any wrongdoing.