Opposition leader Adrian Delia on Sunday questioned the reason why the decision to launch a magisterial inquiry into 17 Black had not been communicated officially but leaked to a Sunday newspaper.

Addressing a political activity in Sliema, the Nationalist Party leader dedicated part of his speech to a story published in The Sunday Times of Malta, which quoted police sources saying that apart from being subject to a criminal investigation, 17 Black reports were also at the heart of a new magisterial inquiry opened a few weeks ago.

While casting serious doubts on the veracity of the story, Dr Delia remarked that if an inquiry had really been launched, he would have expected the police commissioner to communicate this in a news conference.

Owned by Yorgen Fenech, one of the directors of the consortium trusted to build the €450 million Delimara power plan, Dubai-based company 17 Black had been indicated in the Panama Papers as a source of revenue for the secret Panama companies belonging to Minister Konrad Mizzi and the Prime Minister’s chief of staff Keith Schembri.

A leaked email had shown that the overall sum to be deposited from 17 Black into their two companies, Hearnville and Tillgate, would be to the tune of €2 million.

In his remarks, the PN leader said that a news conference would have been the appropriate manner for any police commissioner to react on what he described as "the biggest scandal undermining the country, its reputation and investment".

“This is not a normal country, but one of secrets, of a few people who decide to conceal their own misdeeds” he remarked.

He questioned the timing of this “curious” story, which he said was published days after government was once again under the spotlight over its handling of the 17 Black reports.

Dr Delia twice expressed doubts “whether it was true” that a magisterial inquiry had been launched, saying that he would not base himself on “allegations and speculation” but “facts”.

The ownership of the Panama companies and the source of their revenue was “fact and not spin”, he said.

The Opposition leader said that the new power station project, which the Labour Party had made its flagship proposal in the 2013 general election, was not really intended to lower utility rates, but as a means to steal taxpayers’ money.

Dr Delia also reiterated his pledge that households being overcharged under the current billing system would get refunded if the PN was elected to government.

In his address, he accused Finance Minister Edward Scicluna of turning a blind eye to serious warnings from the European Banking Authority and the European Commission on the financial services sector.

Dr Delia warned that unlike Pilatus Bank which was recently closed, the freezing of the Satabank accounts was harming honest workers, who were struggling to make ends meet because they were unable to cash their salary.

The PN leader said that the damage being done to Malta's reputation by the government’s mishandling of the situation was putting the entire banking sector at risk and with it all the prospects of attracting investment in the blockchain sector. 

 

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