The Panama papers have proven Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi had “intended” to use his secret financial set-up for wrongdoing, Opposition leader Simon Busuttil said yesterday.

Addressing a press conference outside of Parliament, Dr Busuttil said the leak of 11.5 million documents belonging to Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, had shown Dr Mizzi wanted to use his shell company as a brokerage firm.

“The question is, what kind of deals does one need a brokerage for when acting as a government minister? Is it the Enemalta deal? Or the sale of hospitals across Malta and Gozo? Or maybe it’s for the purchasing of gas for the new power station?” Dr Busuttil said.

The Opposition leader also referred to international news reports which claimed both Dr Mizzi and the Prime Minister’s chief of staff Keith Schembri, had tried to set up bank accounts for their offshore businesses in Panama and Dubai.

The news reports, he said, had revealed that the only reason Dr Mizzi and Mr Schembri had failed to do so was because the banks had wanted to ensure that their money did not come from corruption.

“We now know that this was not due to their lack of trying, but because the banks had refusedto open the accounts for them,” he said.

Dr Busuttil said that Prime Minister Joseph Muscat should have taken action against the two weeks ago and asked whether the latter was powerless to do so.

He asked whether Mr Schembri had opened his Panamanian shell company for “somebody else” since he already had one in the British Virgin Islands.

“These questions are very serious. At the very top of government there are clear indications of corruption. And these impact directly Konrad Mizzi, Keith Schembri, and yes, even the Prime Minister,” Dr Busuttil said. He urged Dr Muscat to sack Dr Mizzi and Mr Schembri, insisting that it was in the “national interest”.

This whole controversy was leading to uncertainty and posing a threat to the very important financial services sector, Dr Busuttil warned.