Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/468421
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 25 FEBRUARY 2015 3 News PM, present and former ministers deny holding foreign accounts TIM DIACONO AND MIRIAM DALLI THE Prime Minister and a large majority of current and former ministers have denied ever having held an overseas bank account. Former health parliamentary secretary John Rizzo Naudi has ad- mitted to having held a Swiss bank account in the 1970s, which he de- clared in parliamemt. "I cannot re- member the name of the bank, but it definitely wasn't HSBC," Rizzo Naudi, a parliamentary secretary between 1992 and 1996, told Mal- taToday. "It was easy to open an account there at the time and the money deposited in it was used to send my two sons to University in England. However, I declared all my assets to Parliament and that money has since run out. I'm on a pension and have never been a wealthy man." Following revelations that Na- tionalist former ministers Michael Falzon and Ninu Zammit held Swiss bank accounts, MaltaToday set about questioning ministers and parliamentary secretaries, past and present, as to whether they have ever held an overseas bank account. The vast majority, including Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, denied ever having done so but there were a few exceptions. Former education minister and President emeritus Ugo Mifsud Bon- nici admitted to holding a bank ac- count in England some 30 years ago. "Back then, one couldn't withdraw a lot of money from Maltese banks so I needed to set up a foreign ac- count so as to be able to draw money when I'd be abroad," Mifsud Bonnici told MaltaToday. "They were small amounts of money, not capital. I de- clared them all in Parliament and I've never been questioned suspiciously in relation to them. Nobody can ever accuse me of being a wealthy man." Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi holds bank accounts in the United Kingdom "in view of the fact that I used to work there". He said that he had declared all those accounts to Parliament. Former EU Commissioner John Dalli said that he had declared to the European Commission the assets within the bank account he had held in Brussels and vehemently denied any suggestions that he had held an account in Switzerland or the Baha- mas. Education Minister Evarist Bar- tolo held an overseas account in 1985 while doing his Masters in Cardiff, while deputy Opposition leader Mario de Marco held one in 1988 while studying at Cambridge Uni- versity. Former health minister Joe Cassar held a foreign bank account while he was living in the United States in the 1990s but insisted that he had declared all his assets in Parliament. "What I declared was the truth and nothing but the truth," he said. An international collaboration of news outlets, including the Guard- ian, the French daily Le Monde, BBC Panorama and the Washington- based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, revealed that over €607 million is kept by Maltese account holders in HSBC's Swiss banking arm, to help them evade taxes at home. 'Never held an overseas bank account' These current and former ministers and parliamentary secretaries have told MaltaToday that they have never held an overseas bank account: Nationalist Party: Eddie Fenech Adami (Prime Minister), George Hyzler, Louis Deguara, Jesmond Mugliett, Censu Galea, Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici, Tonio Fenech, Chris Said, Edwin Vassallo, Dolores Cris- tina, Mario Galea, Jason Azzopardi, George Pullicino, Antoine Mifsud Bonnici, Anton Tabone, Frans Agius Labour Party: Joseph Muscat (Prime Minister), George Vella, Michael Far- rugia, Leo Brincat, Charles Mangion, Noel Farrugia, Marie Louise Coleiro Preca, Gavin Gulia, Carmelo Abela, Ian Borg, Edward Zammit Lewis, Owen Bonnici, Helena Dalli, Justyne Caruana, Chris Agius No further SwissLeaks comment by HSBC Malta The HSBC files have been de- scribed as the biggest banking leak in history, revealing the full scale of malpractice at HSBC's Swiss subsidi- ary. Of the €607 million stashed in 139 bank accounts that are held by 71 clients linked to Malta, one account associated with a client connected to Malta has €555 million. Of the 71 clients, 34% have a Mal- tese passport or nationality. The only Maltese person publicly known to have featured on the Swiss Leaks list is Tancred Tabone, the former chair- man of state oil company Enemalta, who is facing prosecution for alleg- edly demanding bribes. In a statement to the ICIJ, Tabone's lawyer said his client denies all charges and added that he "has for- mally authorised the Swiss authori- ties to provide all that information. … His fiscal affairs in that respect are in order." However, when asked by MaltaTo- day whether they had ever advised Maltese citizens to transfer their cash to a Swiss account, HSBC Malta chief executive Mark Watkinson re- ferred the newspaper to two earlier HSBC statements. CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Farrugia was not just a lubricants importer in his business. First, through family firm Powerplant, then later through his own company Aikon, he provided fuel pump technology and infrastructure to Malta's petrol station operators. Sant, the Malta Resources Authority director responsible for energy policy until 2013, was instrumental in ap- proving the development of new fuel pumps by applicants. Last Sunday MaltaToday published information that indicated that each petrol station development could rake in at least €350,000 and leave a profit of between €70,000 and €90,000 for each development. The emails also show that commer- cially sensitive information was ex- changed between Sant and George Farrugia, such as those about a meeting of 20 February, 2009, at the MRA energy directorate, attend- ed by Maurizio Busuttil from the MRA, and Mark Scerri and Michael Seychell for the Malta Environment and Planning Authority. The subject included a proposed legal notice on the control of volatile organic compound emissions, name- ly the storage and distribution of pet- rol from terminal to service stations. The proposals were earmarked for the Office of the Prime Minister but were in Farrugia's hands before they even got to the PM. Farrugia eventually set up his own company, Centre Point Resources Limited, to carry out business con- structing petrol pump stations. Minutes of the meetings he gave to Farrugia gave out information on how the fuel dispensers would have to be upgraded, and on the incorpo- ration of recovery of gases, upgrade of pipework and removal and re-in- statement of forecourt areas. This information was important for George Farrugia to be able to clinch the contracts to build the pet- rol pump stations. The fuel stations which Farrugia developed included the JM Micallef petrol station off Mdina, the one on Attard Road leading to Rabat, the Tal-Barrani petrol station, and the Gaffarena petrol station in Qormi, which was only sanctioned to start company, Centre Point Resources to Farrugia gave out information on of pipework and removal and re-in- statement of forecourt areas. for George Farrugia to be able to clinch the contracts to build the pet- rol pump stations. developed included the JM Micallef petrol station off Mdina, the one on Attard Road leading to Rabat, the The email which Godwin Sant sent to George Farrugia asking him whether he should advise "George" – presumably former minister George Pullicino – to announce the holistic petrol station upgrade Email shows Farrugia being asked what advice should be given to 'George' Members of the House of Representatives