Embattled minister Konrad Mizzi said this afternoon that reports about his Panama company and New Zealand trust issued today were misleading and false, as they sought to convolute and confuse two separate and legitimate structures set up by different individuals.

Dr Mizzi said he had always been truthful, consistent and provided correct facts on the establishment of a trust and related company.

A statement issued on Dr Mizzi's behalf said: "The Trust whose beneficiaries are Dr Mizzi’s wife and children was established as a family trust. As stated from the very beginning, the structure was always intended as a family trust for assets and investments (as per previous statements). The prospective investments include the leveraging of the existing house in London and future investments which will seek to attain a reasonable return for the beneficiaries.

"Dr Mizzi’s family is international and spans Malta to London to China. Moreover the contract of engagement of Dr Mizzi’s wife expires soon and Mrs Mizzi will be transitioning back into the private sector pursuing activities in various fields not associated to Malta.

"As already stated, with regards to reports that there were attempts by the service provider to open a bank account, this was part of the service that was offered to me. Nevertheless, as confirmed by the reports, a bank account was never opened. This confirms my version of events that there are no funds and bank accounts held by the Trust and related company to date.

"Obviously and logically, for any company to operate it is necessary that it is provided with appropriate bank accounts. Hence, naturally, the service provider instructed Mossack Fonseca to make the necessary inquiries. The fact that numerous banks were contacted concurrently attests to this. The majority of these banks turned down such inquires due to the fact that the account would not have met the minimum deposits they required."

Dr Mizzi insisted he did not sign any bank opening forms or give power of attorney to the service provider to open an account. The mandate to the service provider was limited to making inquiries.

Furthermore, the reports published today, confirmed that current or future investments related to his work would not be considered by the trust and company.

Moreover no joint investment was considered with Keith Schembri (the prime minister's chief of staff).

"Today’s stories put to rest all false allegations of monies originating from Azerbaijan, and a myriad of other ridiculous speculations by Simon Busuttil and the Nationalist Party," the statement read.

Dr Mizzi said he had notified the establishment of the new structure in his draft Ministerial Declaration of Assets submission for 2015. This was the first opportunity to report the set up.

Irrespective of all this, Dr Mizzi said he will continue pursuing the tax audit and an independent audit to further prove what he has been stating consistently from the beginning.

The company in Panama will be closed soon after the tax audit is concluded.