Update 12.14pm - Adds Opposition Leader reply
Finance Minister Edward Scicluna is insisting it is not his remit to know whether the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit has concluded its investigation into the Panama Papers.
He told the Times of Malta yesterday that the agency’s board had not informed him whether the investigation was concluded or still pending.
“I don’t know what happened, and it is not my remit to find out whom they were investigating, because if I knew, it would not look good,” Prof. Scicluna said.
The declaration comes in the wake of the resignation of FIAU CEO Manfred Galdes last month, which only became public last week. Dr Galdes has refused to say publicly why he resigned, saying the law precluded him from doing so. Some have speculated that the resignation may be tied to police inaction over the conclusions derived from the Panama Papers investigation.
Asked whether Dr Galdes’s resignation had anything to do with Panama Papers,Prof. Scicluna replied: ‘How would I know?’
The FIAU gathers intelligence but cannot prosecute, and to this end, its investigations are passed on to the police to take the necessary action.
Last April, at the height of the Panama Papers saga, which embroiled the Prime Minister’s chief of staff, Keith Schembri, and then energy minister Konrad Mizzi, the Finance Minister confirmed in Parliament the FIAU was investigating the matter.
However, Prof. Scicluna yesterday insisted that the board had only informed him that the Panama Papers were being investigated, without telling him who and what was being probed.
“There was a lot of pressure coming from the media glare, and they turned to me for moral support, which is why I urged the FIAU and other institutions under my wing, like the Tax Commissioner, to continue working relentlessly when I spoke in Parliament,” Prof. Scicluna said.
He added the FIAU was an autonomous agency despite its board being appointed by the Finance Minister.
“They carry out many investigations and I support their initiatives but I cannot possibly ask to have a look at the names of people or companies being investigated,” he said.
Asked whether Dr Galdes’s resignation had anything to do with the Panama Papers, the minister replied: “How would I know?”
He said the board simply informed him of the resignation, which was put down to Dr Galdes’s decision to take up employment in the private sector.
Prof. Scicluna said it was up to the board to appoint another CEO.
“I have asked them to do so forthwith and to appoint the best person they can find.”
Speculation has been rife that the Panama Papers investigation by the FIAU was passed on to the police for prosecution in April, with former police commissioner Michael Cassar resigning soon after.
Opposition Leader Simon Busuttil subsequently derided Prof. Scicluna's claims as "indefensible", saying it was the Finance Minister's duty to ensure the probe was concluded and acted upon.
Dr Busuttil and Alternattiva Demokratika have called for an explanation on Dr Galdes’s resignation, given the FIAU had been investigating the Panama Papers scandal.
Mr Schembri was retained by the Prime Minister as his chief of staff, and Dr Mizzi remained a Cabinet minister, despite losing his energy and health portfolios in a reshuffle at the end of April.
Both men had opened companies in Panama and sought to open bank accounts for those companies.
According to the massive e-mail dump released last April by the Consortium of Investigative Journalists, the companies were intended to receive income from commercial operations in the domains of remote gaming and recycling.
With additional reporting by Kurt Sansone