Prime Minister Joseph Muscat this morning reiterated claims that transcripts of documents linking his wife to Panama company Egrant had been falsified, insisting more than one piece of information did not tally.
Fielding questions from journalists following a press conference this morning, Dr Muscat said that declarations of trusts would have had the registered address of a company, which in this case should have been in Panama and so this could not be in San Ġwann. This, he insisted, was proof that the documents were fake.
Asked whether this was a solid basis for his assumption given that the addresses for the two other Panama companies, owned by chief of staff Keith Schembri and minister Konrad Mizzi, were also one at San Ġwann, Dr Muscat insisted it was.
Declarations of trusts would have had the registered address of a company, which in this case should have been in Panama
Dr Muscat came under fire after blogger Daphne Caruana Galizia claimed a company cited in the Panama Papers, Egrant Inc, was owned by Michelle Muscat.
She claimed Dr Muscat's wife received money from the daughter of Azerbaijan’s president through a company set up by Mossack Fonseca, the law firm at the heart of the Panama Papers scandal.
During a televised debate yesterday, Dr Muscat claimed that Egrant could not have a Maltese address as listed in Ms Caruana Galizia's document transcript, and that the declaration of trust's 2015 date could not be reconciled with the 2013 certificate of ownership Nexia BT managing partner Brian Tonna possessed.
Dr Muscat said this morning: "The companies are listed as being in San Ġwann in the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists database but this is referring to intermediaries. Declarations of trusts should have the registered address of the company and the registered address of this company is in Panama. This is more proof that the documents have been completely falsified."
The Prime Minister also added that after seeking expert advice, he was told that the transcripts had missing details, such as his wife's passport number. He said that the place of birth on the transcripts read 'Rabat' yet his wife’s pace of birth is listed as Attard on her birth certificate, adding, however, her identity card showed that she was born in Rabat.
“Whoever fabricated the documents must have gathered data from some electoral registry,” Dr Muscat said.
In a blog post last night, Ms Caruana Galizia said Dr Muscat knows well that the San Ġwann office address is that of Nexia BT, and at the time also Mossack Fonseca Malta.
"Brian Tonna is the one who made the arrangements for the company, and it is perfectly normal for lawyers and accountants to have client companies use their office address," she said.
The Prime Minister would not comment on the delays for the Police Commissioner to launch an investigation into the matter and whether he would be asking him to step down as a result. Instead, he insisted that the severity of the problem was the fact that there had been allegations of transfer of funds.