PM, present and former ministers deny holding foreign accounts

The Prime Minister and a large majority of current and former ministers have denied ever having held an overseas bank account.

Former health parliamentary secretary John Rizzo Naudi has admitted to having held a Swiss bank account in the 1970s, which he declared in parliamemt. “I cannot remember the name of the bank, but it definitely wasn’t HSBC,” Rizzo Naudi, a parliamentary secretary between 1992 and 1996, told MaltaToday.

“It was easy to open an account there at the time and the money deposited in it was used to send my two sons to University in England. However, I declared all my assets to Parliament and that money has since run out. I’m on a pension and have never been a wealthy man.”

Following revelations that Nationalist former ministers Michael Falzon and Ninu Zammit held Swiss bank accounts, MaltaToday set about questioning ministers and parliamentary secretaries, past and present, as to whether they have ever held an overseas bank account. The vast majority, including Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, denied ever having done so but there were a few exceptions. 

Former education minister and President emeritus Ugo Mifsud Bonnici admitted to holding a bank account in England some 30 years ago.

“Back then, one couldn’t withdraw a lot of money from Maltese banks so I needed to set up a foreign account so as to be able to draw money when I’d be abroad,” Mifsud Bonnici told MaltaToday. “They were small amounts of money, not capital. I declared them all in Parliament and I’ve never been questioned suspiciously in relation to them. Nobody can ever accuse me of being a wealthy man.” 

Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi holds bank accounts in the United Kingdom “in view of the fact that I used to work there”. He said that he had declared all those accounts to Parliament. 

Former EU Commissioner John Dalli said that he had declared to the European Commission the assets within the bank account he had held in Brussels and vehemently denied any suggestions that he had held an account in Switzerland or the Bahamas.

Education Minister Evarist Bartolo held an overseas account in 1985 while doing his Masters in Cardiff, while deputy Opposition leader Mario de Marco held one in 1988 while studying at Cambridge University. 

Former health minister Joe Cassar held a foreign bank account while he was living in the United States in the 1990s but insisted that he had declared all his assets in Parliament. “What I declared was the truth and nothing but the truth,” he said. 

An international collaboration of news outlets, including the Guardian, the French daily Le Monde, BBC Panorama and the Washington-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, revealed that over €607 million is kept by Maltese account holders in HSBC’s Swiss banking arm, to help them evade taxes at home.

‘Never held an overseas bank account’

These current and former ministers and parliamentary secretaries have told MaltaToday that they have never held an overseas bank account:

Nationalist Party: Eddie Fenech Adami (Prime Minister), George Hyzler, Louis Deguara, Jesmond Mugliett, Censu Galea, Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici, Tonio Fenech, Chris Said, Edwin Vassallo, Dolores Cristina, Mario Galea, Jason Azzopardi, George Pullicino, Antoine Mifsud Bonnici, Anton Tabone, Frans Agius 

Labour Party: Joseph Muscat (Prime Minister), George Vella, Michael Farrugia, Leo Brincat, Charles Mangion, Noel Farrugia, Marie Louise Coleiro Preca, Gavin Gulia, Carmelo Abela, Ian Borg, Edward Zammit Lewis, Owen Bonnici, Helena Dalli, Justyne Caruana, Chris Agius

No further SwissLeaks comment by HSBC Malta 

The HSBC files have been described as the biggest banking leak in history, revealing the full scale of malpractice at HSBC’s Swiss subsidiary.

Of the €607 million stashed in 139 bank accounts that are held by 71 clients linked to Malta, one account associated with a client connected to Malta has €555 million.

Of the 71 clients, 34% have a Maltese passport or nationality. The only Maltese person publicly known to have featured on the Swiss Leaks list is Tancred Tabone, the former chairman of state oil company Enemalta, who is facing prosecution for allegedly demanding bribes.

In a statement to the ICIJ, Tabone’s lawyer said his client denies all charges and added that he “has formally authorised the Swiss authorities to provide all that information. … His fiscal affairs in that respect are in order.” 

However, when asked by MaltaToday whether they had ever advised Maltese citizens to transfer their cash to a Swiss account, HSBC Malta chief executive Mark Watkinson referred the newspaper to two earlier HSBC statements.