[WATCH] Joseph Muscat defends FIAU’s independence, denies reading reports

Joseph Muscat defends FIAU

Politicians could not in any way interfere in the work of the Financial Investigation and Analysis Unit (FIAU) and not even he could order the publication of any of the unit’s possible reports on Pilatus Bank, Konrad Mizzi or Keith Schembri, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said on Monday.

Muscat also refused to be drawn into whether his chief of staff, Keith Schembri, had a personal account at Pilatus Bank, as alleged by blogger and The Malta Independent columnist Daphne Caruana Galizia last week.

The prime minister, who was answering questions put to him by the media after a press conference at Castille, said that he did not know if the FIAU had drawn up any such reports and that he did not have the right to check.

“No politician can interfere in the work of the FIAU, including myself,” Muscat said.

He said he trusted the independence of Magistrate Aaron Bugeja, who was leading an inquiry into allegations linking his wife to the Panama company Egrant and said he hoped the inquiry could be concluded swiftly.

Muscat reiterated his claim that any financial transaction were recorded and saved and could never be edited or erased.

Finance minister Edward Sciculna, also present at the press conference, pointed out that all financial institutions, including banks, were constantly monitored by other local and international bodies.

When asked if he felt comfortable in a cabinet led by a prime minister “under investigation”, Scicluna insisted he had complete trust in the FIAU, MFSA, the Central Bank and tax authorities, while Muscat noted that he was not the subject of the magisterial inquiry.

The prime minister also refused to divulge what had been discussed in a meeting he had earlier in the day with President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca, saying only that what he told her was similar to what he had already been stating publicly.