Panama Papers | Muscat hints at imminent closure on Mizzi

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has yet again stated he will bring finality to the Panama Papers saga that has embroiled energy minister Konrad Mizzi, whose offshore company in Panama and offshore trust in New Zealand have become a liability for the Labour government.

“I’m convinced I will achieve closure. We departed from the confidence motion presented by the Opposition, to which the government side responded, unanimously, that there is full trust in this government,” Muscat said.

“But when I take my decision I would have had all the facts in hand. I could have taken a decision the day before yesterday, but then again tomorrow I could have even more [facts] in hand,” Muscat said, suggesting a decision on Mizzi’s fate is imminent.

A tax audit by a Big Four firm and the Inland Revenue are currently ongoing.

On Monday, Labour MPs defeated a motion of no confidence presented by the Opposition against the government.

“The aim of the confidence motion was unclear: at one point it was to have the government change, at another it was to have the prime minister resign. But at no point did any of the MPs say one word as to what an alternative PN government would do, were it to find itself in power today. It was all about negativity,” the PM said, who said the confidence motion gave his ministers a ‘window’ to showcase his government’s achievements.

Muscat also insists that nothing illegal has been implicated about Mizzi’s offshore structure, although Opposition leader Simon Busuttil on Monday said that the minister’s declaration that he would use his company to receive brokerage fees was “akin to bribery”.

“When push comes to shove, nobody in parliament implicated anything illegal. There were many insinuations.”

Muscat also said that his administration will announce new investment plans from the private sector after Playmobil announced a €30 million expansion that will create 200 new jobs.

He also hit out at PN deputy leader for parliamentary affairs Mario de Marco, who admitted with MaltaToday of having paid just over €34,000 in house works supplied by Redmap Constructions, five years since they first started.

The payments were made in March and April soon after the resignation of the Allied group’s managing director Adrian Hillman – Redmap had been subcontracted for works at Allied’s new printing press in Mriehel in 2011 and provided free construction work for Hillman and other Allied board directors as well.

“I think Mario de Marco’s position is tenable as deputy leader for party affairs, to go by the standards Opposition leader Simon Busuttil has put up for himself. Everything the PN says about standards truly falls apart… unlike Beppe Fenech Adami, De Marco was a minister.

“As minister responsible for MEPA, De Marco did not pay for works carried out in his home [by Redmap Constructions] and five years later he asked for an invoice when the name of this contractor was thrust in the news during the Panama Papers saga. To me, his excuse that he had no hurry to pay or finish the works is not credible. Why would have asked for the invoice now then?”

Muscat also hit out at Simon Busuttil, saying the PN leader had built his career as a lawyer of several of the most powerful lobbies.

“Busuttil was a special delegate for Gonzi, his deputy leader, and was involved in the PN government’s inner core. But he looked away when there was corruption – I never heard him say one word on corruption, and who does not fight corruption, is corrupt to quote Eddie Fenech Adami.”

On its part, the PN hit back at Muscat’s claims saying that it was Muscat’s position that was untenable. “Instead of taking the decision he should have taken at the outset, Muscat forcefully defended Mizzi and Schembri, a defence raising suspicions that Muscat is involved in these financial structures.

“Muscat has the cheek of saying Mario de Marco should resign for using Redmap Constructions when his parliamentary secretary Ian Borg used the same company,” the PN said, referring to Borg’s construction work in Dingli whose regularity has been disputed by an Ombudsman’s decision