A yet unnamed company based overseas would be carrying out an audit of Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi’s affairs, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said.
“I think it [the name of the company] will be communicated in the coming days. It is a big company. It is independent and, as far as I know, it is not based in Malta, so it is an international audit firm. If it is discovered there was money [in Dr Mizzi’s Panama company and/or New Zealand trust] and subsequently removed, then Konrad Mizzi will no longer remain a minister.
“Even if there was nothing untoward, this is still a decision that could have either not been taken or taken better. But, still, the Opposition leader would not have told the truth. However, I will accept the criticism that we need to raise our standards,” Dr Muscat said.
Dr Muscat seemed unsure as to whether the audit by the international firm was already under way.
Asked whether the very fact that Dr Mizzi owned a company in Panama was already grounds for resignation, Dr Muscat said that was not the point.
“That is not the point. The point is whether he was going to declare it or not. I saw Minister Mizzi’s draft declaration and, although he could have done this better, everything was declared,” the Prime Minister said.
Dr Mizzi has admitted to breaching tax laws by not declaring his trust to the Commissioner of Inland Revenue, a transgression for which he can be taken to court although that would require the commissioner to issue a formal notice to prosecute. It is not known whether such a notice has in fact been issued and when questions about the case were sent to the commissioner he said the Inland Revenue Department could not divulge such information in terms of the Income Tax Act.
The minister blamed this oversight on his financial advisers, Nexia BT, the company that set up the trust and Panamanian company for both himself and Dr Muscat’s chief of staff, Keith Schembri. The trusts were set up concurrently in December 2014, shortly before Dr Muscat, Dr Mizzi and Mr Schembri went on a trip to Azerbaijan unaccompanied by any civil servants.
The Prime Minister yesterday flatly denied having any prior knowledge about the financial set up.
Asked whether having Dr Mizzi run the Labour Party’s next electoral campaign would prove to be a liability, Dr Muscat replied it would be a liability if it turned out the Opposition leader lied about Dr Mizzi holding “millions” in his Panama company.
He also defended his chief of staff’s refusal to face the media about the matter, saying former prime minister Eddie Fenech Adami’s right-hand man, Richard Cachia Caruana, was equally media shy.
Asked if Mr Schembri should submit himself to a tax audit, Dr Muscat said the main point about his closest aide was that he resigned from the directorships of his companies prior to taking up his present position.