Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/644193
WWW.MALTATODAY.COM.MT WEDNESDAY EDITION €1.00 Newspaper post WEDNESDAY • 24 FEBRUARY 2016 • ISSUE 457 • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY EDITORIAL PAGE 9 Mizzi to declare New Zealand family trust Energy minister says trust he registered in New Zealand, with shell company that has no funds, will be used for family's asset management: 'I will always be transparent,' Mizzi adds MATTHEW VELLA ENERGY minister Konrad Miz- zi has announced the existence of a family trust that he regis- tered in New Zealand, and which he says he will be submitting in parliament in his declaration of assets. Mizzi, who tomorrow Thursday will be elected Labour's new dep- uty leader for party affairs, con- firmed with MaltaToday that the family trust was opened in 2015. He was answering questions on his personal financial affairs ahead of the election. "I have always been and will always be transparent in my state of af- fairs," said Mizzi, whose family lived overseas prior to his enter- ing politics. "Due to the ongoing work pres- sures and long hours I do not have time to manage my finan- cial affairs effectively," Mizzi said. Mizzi, who handles both ener- gy and health portfolios as min- ister, said that in 2014 he and his wife Sai Mizzi sought advice on asset management and last year opened a trust. "This will protect our assets and will ensure we realise a fair rate of return. Our assets will be managed by a professional set- up and trustees. My wife and I will not be personally involved in managing this set-up and the beneficiaries of the trust are my- self, my wife and my children." Mizzi said the trust was still a shell structure with no assets or funds in it. "The trust is regulated and reg- istered in New Zealand, a stable parliamentary democracy that is one of the world's most well- governed nations, having ranked in the top tier of indexes on the strength of its democratic insti- tutions, government transpar- ency and lack of corruption." PAGE 4 Gaffarena wants judiciary watchdog to investigate Attorney General MATTHEW AGIUS MARCO Gaffarena (left) and his wife Josielle have called on the Commission for the Administra- tion of Justice to investigate At- torney General Peter Grech, law- yer Victoria Buttigieg and lawyer Christian Falzon Scerri for an alleged breach of the code of eth- ics and conduct for lawyers, citing unspecified "conf licts of interest". The couple yesterday filed a sworn declaration in the acts of the case against them, institut- ed by the Prime Minister, who asked for, and was granted, a temporary injunction prevent- ing Gaffarena from disposing of government land trans- ferred to him. In their dec- laration the couple informed the court that they had made a com- plaint to the Commission for the Administration of Justice about comments which the Attorney General gave to the Malta Inde- pendent on Sunday regarding the case. The Attorney General told the newspaper that his office was representing both himself and the Prime Minister in his capac- ity as an MP, in an action which is filed jointly. The action is granted to any MP and to the Attorney General under Article 4 of the Disposal of Government Land Act. "It is by no means a private action but an action that is filed in the public interest by a Mem- ber of the House to impugn a transfer of government land not made in accordance with the Dis- posal of Government Land Act," Grech said. Grech denied any conf lict of in- terest apparent in the case since the Commissioner of Lands, as the entity that transferred the lands, was a defendant in the case. In a separate application in the same case, also filed yesterday, the Gaffarenas claimed that the Prime Minister could not legally attack the contract of exchange which he himself authorised. The Prime Minister instituted the case in a bid to prevent the disposal of government lands transferred to the Gaffarenas in the controversial €1.65 million expropriation of their 50% share of an Old Mint Street palazzo that houses government offices. The Commissioner of Lands is listed as one of the defendants in the case, the application reads, before pointing out that accord- ing to a notification in the Gov- ernment Gazette, published in March 2013, the OPM had taken over responsibility for the Lands department. "It is clear from the law that at the time of entering into the contract of exchange, the Commissioner of Lands was under the direction of the minis- ter, in this case, the Prime Min- ister," the application contends. Therefore, a contract of exchange "could only happen with the au- thorisation of the Prime Minis- ter." "The Prime Minister cannot request the cancellation of an act for which he is also legally re- sponsible," the application reads. Lawyer Keith Bonnici signed both applications. Konrad Mizzi opened a family trust in 2015