Updated | Busuttil to suspend PN members who held undeclared cash in Swiss bank

Former Nationalist minister Michael Falzon has publicly admitted to holding an account containing some €465,000 (Lm200,000) at HSBC private bank in Geneva, Switzerland, after a journalist contacted him on the matter.

“I had no problem in confirming that this information was correct,” Falzon, today a political columnist and a member of the government’s oil procurement committee, said.

He has now withdrawn from both this position and his role in the Nationalist Party executive committee. Opposition leader Simon Busuttil also issued a statement saying Falzon's positions were now untenable, and that he would suspend any PN official who held undeclared cash in Swiss banks.

Falzon is the second person to have been identified as a Maltese holder of undeclared cash in HSBC Private Bank in Geneva. Another Maltese national, former Enemalta chairman Tancred Tabone, was outed by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, as part of the clients' list in the database that whistleblower Hervé Falciani gave to French police in 2008.

Another former minister, Austin Gatt, had also admitted having held a Swiss bank account with UBS account held by him, details of which he volunteered to the police during the 2013 election at the height of the oil scandal.

Falzon said that between 1975 and 1985, he was involved with other Maltese professionals in an architectural and civil engineering consultancy providing services abroad. These services were provided under the aegis of a Maltese registered company of which he was a shareholder and director.

The first big job that this company worked on had been entrusted to it in partnership with a Swiss architectural firm.

“This necessitated frequent visits to Switzerland and the opening of bank accounts to which funds were affected by the Swiss partners and eventually to the Maltese company.

“When the company was liquidated, and considering the political situation in Malta in 1985-87, I decided to retain a Swiss account in my name,” Falzon said, who later went on to be elected on the Nationalist ticket and be appointed a minister.

“I want to make it clear that the money came from payments for professional activities abroad for foreign clients that were carried out before I became a minister in 1987 and that no moneys originating from Malta or from third parties were ever deposited in this account. In fact, I had no other foreign accounts.”

Falzon said that in 2002 he decided to transfer the account to HSBC Genève and some six years later the money was again transferred to another bank.

“Eventually all the money in the account was repatriated to Malta and today I have no money deposited in any Swiss bank or any other foreign bank whatsoever. My fiscal position in Malta has long ago been regularised.

“Although it is evident that the said account has no connection whatsoever with my past political activities, I have decided to suspend myself for the time being from all the political activities within the structure of the PN.  For the time being, I am also withdrawing from my position as observer on the Oil Procurement Committee.”

Simon Busuttil on Swissleaks

Opposition leader Simon Busuttil said that anyone who held undeclared monies in private Swiss bank accounts should come clean and carry responsibility.

"As I have stated a number of times over the past days, I do not consider it acceptable for people in public office or in political positions to be among those involved in this scandal," Busuttil said.

"People in public office or in political positions caught up in this scandal - whoever they may be - must come clean and carry their responsibility at law. Furthermore, if any person on these lists has any official connection with the Nationalist Party he or she should consider himself or herself suspended immediately from the Party."

Busuttil said that if anyone breached any tax laws, they should come clean and carry responsibility for their behaviour, and that if any funds in  Swiss banks are due in any way to an abuse of any official position they should pay for their betrayal of public trust "to the fullest extent possible."

"I note that Mr Falzon has stated that there is no connection with his past political activities. I note also that he has suspended himself for the time being from political activities within the PN and from his position on the Oil Procurement Committee. Nevertheless, his suspension from the Party itself must be considered as having immediate effect. His position on the Oil Public Procurement Committee – as the appointee of Prime Minister Joseph Muscat – has also become untenable," Busuttil said.

Government reaction

The Maltese government has asked that a list of possible Maltese tax dodgers who banked with the HSBC Swiss private bank, pass on the names with full protection for their sources, so that police can investigate. "We have already made a request to the competent authorities to pass on this information to our tax authorities."