Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/646116
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 28 FEBRUARY 2016 News 7 used for money laundering, ideal to receive incomes whose source will remain undisclosed. Irrespective of your guarantees, you've put yourself in an unenviable position, because you expose yourself to speculation that your Panama company will take kickbacks or bribes from multinationals with an interest in Malta…. There's speculation and there are facts. I have been transpar- ent in declaring my trust and the arrangement. You have seen the names of the trustees. I will update a statement of facts an- nually on this. Electrogas was shortlisted and provided a de- tailed proposal, which was also vetted by the European Commis- sion, which said we followed due process. It is a good deal… I refute all allegations. Simon Busuttil has alleged that millions are in this bank account. There isn't one penny… You will open a bank account for this Panama company… Of course, if need be. Why not? And this bank account will receive money from different parts of the world, but it won't be in Malta, it will be in Panama… You have a declared structure. Anybody can investigate. In ad- dition to that I am going to be the first MP to submit myself annu- ally to an audit from the Com- missioner of Inland Revenue. I am subjecting myself to the high- est level of scrutiny. I have no problem with that. I will be ask- ing the CIR to carry out an audit. More transparent than that… because there is nothing to hide. It's all legitimate. And will the CIR have access to all documents in Panama as well, which resists signing tax information exchange agreements with the international community… Full disclosure. You know Panama is home to companies accused of money laundering, of bringing in dirty cash and drug money… FATF's task force only recently welcomed Panama's latest pro- gress on money laundering hav- ing established a legal framework to meet its commitments… Panama is resisting any multilateral treaties on tax information exchange. It's dictating reform at its own pace. It's still not the clean country you'd want it be. I have no bank accounts in Pan- ama… Where will you open your bank account? My financial advisors will de- cide that… They will probably choose somewhere that guarantees full banking secrecy… Please bear in mind that for me to open a trust meant I had to go through full due diligence. You are a politically-exposed person – someone who could use his position to abuse of it – who has chosen a financial set-up which people who abuse of their position to receive illicit funds, use. Shouldn't you be above board and stop this financial set-up? If I had wrong intentions I would not have declared it. I would not have declared it. Shouldn't you use a Maltese trust to be above suspicion? I've explained the reasons… I said the banks are moving out of the trust business, Ganado has worked on government con- tracts, so I went for a long-term set-up for overseas assets. I don't know where I will live in the fu- ture. You had instructed Enemalta to hedge for fuel with SOCAR (33% shareholder in Electrogas) which raises suspicions about your intimacy with Azerbaijan, SOCAR – so matched with this financial set-up in Panama, does not paint a positive picture of what you are doing. Absolutely not. I've declared the entire structure of the trust, I will declare all assets and move- ments, and I will subject myself to a full scrutiny. So no allega- tions can hold. Shouldn't you declare your wife's assets? You're a minister of the state and your wife is a consular envoy. I follow guidance provided by Parliament and the Cabinet of- fice. So you won't be declaring her assets… No I've declared everything as requested. She had assets before she got married. I will adhere to all parliamentary rules at all times. Would it be embarrassing for you to disclose the amount of wealth you and your spouse hold? No… the money we earn jointly is declared in our joint declara- tions. Only her assets before marriage are not declared (in the parliamentary register). And this trust will be used for your spouse's personal assets from before marriage. Our intent for the moment is for the family assets. Would you be ready to disclose the extent of your family wealth? Everything in joint ownership has been declared. It seems to me that what you declared in the parliamentary register is too small to justify this financial set-up. It's more than that [MaltaTo- day mentioned his liquid assets] because I have a house in the UK which has not yet been sold; the London apartment I lived in in 2011 was being rented. I have my Sliema apartment and my sav- ings. Do you accept that your financial set-up is fiscally immoral? You say you believe in the redistribution of income but it is tax havens that allow wealth not to be redistributed in the first place… I know your views on the mat- ter. Malta reaps significant in- come from international finance. I will pay taxes on all my earnings in Malta, and please check me out on this on an annual basis. Can voters trust a minister who uses a foreign financial set-up who takes his assets elsewhere but in Malta, to minimise tax exposure? I did not set it up to minimise tax exposure. I set it up for family planning… But again you will only pay tax on earnings brought into Malta… I will pay full tax on all my earn- ings. If all your family wealth was fully repatriated in Malta you would be paying a full rate of tax… No. I pay tax in the UK on the property rental; I don't get a tax refund for what I paid in the UK. I will pay tax in Malta on every single transaction carried out. The Maltese should trust me be- cause of my track-record, for re- ducing energy tariffs, for closing Marsa power station… Would you advise the Maltese to use this financial set-up? It's a free world. Everyone can choose whatever they wish and should seek advice on what is best for them. Is this the right example to set: using tax havens is a right for people?w My wife lives abroad. We've moved around. I might not be in Malta forever. Given what I've done, it makes sense. Minister, there is also speculation on your marital situation: your wife and you live in two continents. Maybe you are unsure about your joint wealth and how it will be managed in future? It helps given the conditions. We have properties overseas. Hopefully we'll have invest- ments. I don't want my money to sit in a bank account earning just 1%. My marriage is as strong as ever. We're happily married. We have two lovely kids. Maybe it's not your typical marriage – but it's always been like that. When did you inform the Prime Minister of the set-up? Some three weeks ago… Was he shocked? Why would he be? He would be shocked had I not declared it. 1 Hearnville Inc. (Panama) set up in 2013, acquired on 2 June 2015 for Konrad Mizzi 2 In 2015, ATC Administrators Inc of Panama became its registered shareholders for the period 2 June 2015 up untio 21 July 2015, holding the shares for the exclusive of benefit of Konrad Mizzi 3 On 22 July, 2015, the Hearnville shares were transferred to Orion Trust (New Zealand) Limited, so that the Panama company is now owned by the trustees of the Mizzi family trust 4 Orion Trust as trustees run the affairs of the Rotorua Trust in New Zealand as from 22 July 2015 when the trust was set up. 5 The trust period can extend to 79 years and 11 months, and its settlor is Konrad Mizzi, while its beneficiaries are his wife Sai Mizzi Liang, and his children. From Panama to Auckland, NZ