Fenech Adami scoffs at suggestion Europol could investigate CapitalOne case

Nationalist deputy leader Beppe Fenech Adami told a socialist MEP during a hearing of the Panama Papers committee that he would have no difficulty with the Europol investigating the CapitalOne case, which Maltese police did not pursue despite a potential case of money laundering having emerged through the course of investigations.

Fenech Adami was the director of the fiduciary company nominally owning CapitalOne in early 2013, when the investigation was underway but shelved by assistant commissioner Michael Cassar.

Fenech Adami however today said that the chances of Europol him were “as high as the Europol investigating you,” he told the One News reporter asking him about the matter raised by Portuguese MEP Ana Gomes on Monday.

“I replied that I have no problem with that and the police can investigate anything they want,” Fenech Adami said.

The CapitalOne investigation was the subject of an inquiry by three retired judges, whose report was submitted to the government but has not yet been published.

Accusing the Labour media of “believing their own lies”, Fenech Adami reiterated that no financial authority or the police had investigated him.

At a press conference with shadow justice minister Jason Azzopardi and candidate Dorian Sciberras, Fenech Adami insisted that Prime Minister Joseph Muscat could no longer run away from allegations of suspected money laundering by OPM minister Konrad Mizzi. The PANA committee on Monday said described Mizzi’s and Keith Schembri’s financial setup as “a textbook case of money laundering”.

“The accusation facing his two closest people are serious and the Prime Minister can’t keep running away,” Fenech Adami said, adding that “all logical assumptions” led to such a conclusion.

He accused the government of being corrupt and of resorting to lies to cover its wrongdoings.

Fenech Adami and Azzopardi insisted that Nexia BT owner Brian Tonna wasn't telling the truth when he said that he owned Egrant Inc. Nexia BT has repeatedly stated that Egrant was still a shelf company and the shares were beneficially theirs.

Azzopardi said that a report by the FIAU had been passed on to the police but nothing was done.

Asked whether the PN should file a complaint over the police’s inaction, Fenech Adami and Azzopardi replied that the suggestion was “absurd”, arguing that the police should be doing its work. “The police have the FIAU report in hand. The FIAU has carried out all the ground work and the only results we have seen were the resignation of the police chief and the director general of the authority.”