Malta would “definitely” try to obtain the Panama Papers data from the German Federal Police who reportedly bought it for €5 million, Finance Minister Edward Scicluna said yesterday.

Paying for unlawfully-obtained data was ruled in order by Germany’s Constitutional Court.

Prof. Scicluna said the government would have to check about the legality of obtaining such data.

While the 11.5 million documents leaked from the Panama firm Mossack Fonseca were made available to newspapers partnered with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), authorities across the globe have been unable to get their hands on them.

The documents include e-mails, files and scans detailing the financial dealings of thousands of individuals in jurisdictions like Panama and British Virgin Islands, which are synonymous with money laundering and tax evasion.

The names of both Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi and the Prime Minister’s chief of staff, Keith Schembri, featured in the Panama Papers leak with documents showing they had set up secret companies in Panama.

In leaked reports, the government’s anti-money laundering agency (FIAU) expressed suspicion that both men’s Panama activities could have involved money laundering.

Two FIAU officials were dismissed last month, three days after Prof. Scicluna questioned publicly whether the FIAU reports raising suspicions about Dr Mizzi’s and Mr Schembri’s financial activities had been “written to be leaked”.

In comments to this paper, he had demanded the FIAU explain the leaks.

Prof. Scicluna yesterday denied any involvement with the dismissals, saying there was no written communication with the FIAU.

He expressed confidence in the FIAU’s board, which is chaired by the Attorney General: “They would not do anything foolish.

“I trust them. They are autonomous. I give them the freedom to decide, one way or the other.

“The political thing about asking these questions [whether the reports were written to be leaked]… well I hope they also come up with a report which sheds some light on the whole issue.

“I would say that the public at large wants to know; you just cannot ignore it. It is true that it was in the heat of the election but now that things have calmed down, the more one wants to know what exactly happened there,” Prof. Scicluna said.

Asked whether he thought the public would also want to know why the police had not acted on the FIAU reports, he said it was up to the institutions to provide information which the public would seek.

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