More than a month after the 1,500-page Egrant inquiry report was handed to the Attorney General, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has yet to make good on his promise to publish all the findings.

The Egrant inquiry at the Office of the Prime Minister.The Egrant inquiry at the Office of the Prime Minister.

On July 22, the Attorney General had released 49 pages of the report consisting of the main conclusions. Dr Muscat had immediately declared he would release the full report “within a few days”.

The findings published so far show no evidence had been found to substantiate claims that the Prime Minister’s wife, Michelle, owned the Panama company.

Allegations that the company had received a $1 million payment from Azerbaijan’s ruling elite were also not backed by evidence, the inquiry found.

The inquiry found signatures on trust documents linking Ms Muscat to Egrant had been forged. Shortly after Dr Muscat’s statement about the imminent publication of the inquiry, government sources indicated that publication of the document would take a few weeks.

Publication of the document would take a few weeks

The Prime Minister said later a process was under way to make sure that releasing the document did not intrude on the privacy of third parties or hinder investigations and possible future proceedings.

Dr Muscat said the Attorney General had advised him not to publish the entire inquiry.

Questions sent to the Office of the Prime Minister asking why publication of the report had not happened yet remained unanswered.

So far, Jonathan Ferris, a former manager at the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit, and Nationalist Party media head Pierre Portelli are known to have been questioned by the police in relation to the inquiry. The Malta Independent on Thursday quoted sources saying Nexia BT partner Karl Cini was also interviewed by the police in connection with Egrant.

Egrant was one of three companies set up by OPM consultants Nexia BT. The other two companies were owned by the Prime Minister’s top aide, Keith Schembri, and Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi.

According to leaked e-mails from Panama law firm Mossack Fonseca, the two men were set to earn €150,000 a month each via payments from two Dubai companies – 17 Black and Macbridge.

A leaked FIAU report traced payments totalling €1.3 million to 17 Black. Both men have refused to say who owns the Dubai shell company.

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