Updated 10.01pm - Added reference to Brian Tonna statement

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat had lied five times in less than 24 hours in his attempt to pull off a “colossal cover-up” of the truth, Nationalist Party leader Simon Busuttil said this afternoon.

In a hastily called press conference, Dr Busuttil accused his rival of intentional misdirection in an attempt to muddy the waters and confuse people.

READ: Muscat says documents have been 'fabricated'

He ran through a list of five “lies” he said the Prime Minister had been caught in over the past day:

1. The Prime Minister’s claim that “no company in Panama can have an address in San Gwann.” This, Dr Busuttil said, was simply untrue and belied by the ICIJ’s Panama Papers database. Egrant’s San Gwann address, he added, was the same as that of Panama companies owned by Minister Konrad Mizzi and the Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff Keith Schembri.

2. Dr Muscat’s claim that Egrant could not have been “sold” to his wife Michelle in August 2015 if it had already been “sold” to Nexia BT’s Brian Tonna two years prior. “A declaration of trust is not a document of sale,” the PN leader said. “It simply shows who is the owner of the company.”

3. Dr Muscat had said that Brian Tonna alone owned Egrant’s shares. “This is the biggest lie,” Dr Busuttil said. “Panama’s register of companies makes it clear that Egrant shareholders are Dubro Ltd and Aliator - the same companies named by Daphne Caruana Galizia. It is not true Brian Tonna was the owner of the company. These two firms were, until it was liquidated on 6th of this very month.” 

In a subsequent statement, Mr Tonna said that under Panamanian law, "changes in shareholding are not publicly recorded" and that the two companies had ceased to be Egrant shareholders in July 2013.

4. The Prime Minister had questioned the authenticity of transcripts published by Ms Caruana Galizia by noting that it listed his wife’s place of birth as Rabat [as it is on her ID card] when she was in fact born in Attard. “Whoever noted down the information must have had access to Mrs Muscat’s ID card,” Dr Busuttil said. “This is obvious.”

5. The Prime Minister noting that the transcripts made no mention of his wife’s ID card number or passport number. “But a document such as this does not need ID or passport number,” the PN leader said. “Ask the experts.”

Dr Busuttil expressed scepticism about the magisterial inquiry underway, noting that police had delayed in visiting Pilatus Bank offices and only after the bank’s chairman, along with an employee, were seen leaving offices from a back exit while carrying full suitcases.

Dr Busuttil during this afternoon's press conference. Photo: PN

“After evidence was removed, an inquiry was launched. Imagine a crime scene where the body is removed, and then the police are called,” the PN leader said. “How can this inquiry find anything?”

READ: Muscat and Busuttil go head-to-head on Xarabank

Dr Busuttil said the Prime Minister had a "massive conflict of interest" in this matter, since he was being investigated while at the same time tasked, as Prime Minister, with ensuring the country's institutions operated without interference. 

The PN leader later clarified that he was not questioning the integrity of magistrate Aaron Bugeja, who is leading the inquiry. Pilatus Bank has strenuously denied claims that any documents were removed from the bank or destroyed.

Dr Muscat has repeatedly insisted that Dr Busuttil’s protestations about evidence being destroyed is a red herring, saying that records of electronic bank transfers [as alleged by Ms Caruana Galizia] cannot be erased.

Asked why he was still concerned about documents being removed from the bank this week, when Ms Caruana Galizia had since written that papers related to Egrant were removed from a bank safe in March of last year, Dr Busuttil skirted the question and said the confusion was all down to Dr Muscat’s actions.

“The Prime Minister must resign immediately. No country can have a Prime Minister who is under investigation,” the Opposition leader said.

'Still not a single shred of proof' - PL

In a reaction, the Labour Party said that Dr Busuttil had spent more than a year making allegations and had yet to back them with any evidence, "because there isn't any."

"Until yesterday he was saying that there was a suitcase with proof taken from a safe. Today we're told the safe never existed, and the new claim is that proof was removed last year," the PL said. 

"Now that he's been caught lying, he's launching attacks against an inquiry, as he does everytime things don't go his way, while his buddy [Ms Caruana Galizia] refuses to testify  because she cannot document her lies."