Newspaper alleges irked businessman behind Panama leaks

A businessman who is livid at not being awarded a major government tender is behind the leaks on minister Konrad Mizzi and the Prime Minister’s chief of staff Keith Schembri's Panama companies, GWU newspaper l-orizzont reported today.

Stopping short of naming the “discreet” entrepreneur, the Labour leaning newspaper reported that it is informed that the businessman paid for the information on Mizzi and Schembri’s trust funds in New Zealand and companies registered in Panama, which was then passed on to the Nationalist Party.

The newspaper added that in an attempt to get his revenge on government for failing to win a tender for a “major project”, the businessman obtained “print-outs” which he gave to PN leader Simon Busuttil.

Alleging that the businessman has been seen in public with Busuttil on a number of occasions, l-orizzont said that the information was then passed on by the opposition to Malta Independent columnist and blogger Daphne Caruana Galizia.

Mizzi has declared he will close down his offshore company in Panama which was set up for him by a firm related to Mossack Fonseca, a legal firm in Panama that has attracted notoriety for clients associated with money laundering and dirty cash.

Similarly, Schembri admitted to having a shell company in Panama and a trust fund in New Zealand but has so far declined from furnishing any details on the offshore set-up.