[WATCH] Muscat stands firmly by his men

Prime Minister stands firmly by Mizzi, Schembri

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat is standing firmly by his deputy leader and energy minister Konrad Mizzi, and chief of staff Keith Schembri, in a swirl of rising insistence by the Opposition for their dismissal.

The two are at the centre of the controversy revolving around offshore trusts and companies in Panama, a matter upon which the Opposition is insisting that responsibility must be shouldered.

Muscat is however standing by his two closest allies, instead turning the tables onto Simon Busuttil and the president of the PN’s executive council, Ann Fenech.

“Busuttil should be keeping an eye on Ann Fenech,” Muscat retorted, when questioned by MaltaToday.

Ann Fenech comes into the picture because Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca – notorious for doing the bidding of nefarious oligarchs the world over – has been employed as a choice firm for the creation of offshore companies by more than one Maltese legal and financial services firm. One such firm was Fenlex Corporate Services Ltd, the legal firm whose managing partner is Fenech.

Fenech said that in 2003, Fenlex had provided its professional services to a client in order to register a company in Panama.

“Fenlex does not offer registration of companies any longer,” she insisted.

Busuttil himself has defended Fenech, arguing that she was neither a minister nor did she own companies in Panama.

With the Labour Party counting three years since it was elected to power, Muscat has admitted the government needed to understand those who felt disappointed by recent developments. He also said that the government needed to be “humble enough to understand when we could have done things differently”.

“We need to continue showing that we are able to listen, to understand and to change when we are wrong,” Muscat told MaltaToday outside parliament. “We should be delivering our message to the people better, or change when things could have been done better.”

In the coming days, he added, he will continue explaining the results achieved over the past three years, especially in the economic sector.

“We are capable of changing and updating our methods,” a resolute Muscat said.