[WATCH] Prime Minister suggests Konrad Mizzi should appear before PANA committee

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has suggested that his minister Konrad Mizzi should give his version of events to the PANA committee of MEPs who are investigating alleged breaches of money laundering rules, with a delegation visit to Malta next Monday.

Both Mizzi and the PM’s chief of staff Keith Schembri have been asked to testify after news of their secret offshore companies set up in Panama by Mossack Fonseca was revealed in the ICIJ’s exposé of the Panama Papers.

“I have given no instruction to anyone. Schembri and Mizzi’s decision will be communicated to the committee within the next hours. As a politician, I believe that politicians called to give their version of events should do so when asked,” Muscat said when asked whether he should instruct both men to attend the PANA meeting in Malta.

Again he denied that he had any stake in a third offshore company set up by auditor Nexia BT, called Egrant. “If the Opposition leader has any such information, he should provide his proof that the company is mine, as he has often given the impression. I have repeatedly denied this. I challenge him to present his proof.”

Muscat said that the government had given the tax authorities the go-ahead to meet the PANA committee, despite what he said was the European Council’s legal opinion that the committee might have no legal standing for its remit.