Simon Busuttil sued for libel

The Prime Minister’s chief of staff has sued opposition leader Simon Busuttil for libel over comments made a few weeks ago on Radio 101.

The libel suit was filed a few days ago.

Keith Schembri, who admitted to holding a New Zealand trust as well as an attached company in Panama, said the trust was opened “as a contingency upon advice from his financial advisers”.

The opposition leader accused the Labour government of being stuck in a ‘crisis of corruption’ and delivered a scathing attack on Castille, accusing Joseph Muscat of defending both energy minister Konrad Mizzi and Schembri.

Schembri, appointed chief of staff by Muscat after managing Labour’s electoral campaign and helped renew the party structures, stepped down from directorships on his companies and “consolidated his structures by opening a family trust both locally and abroad”.