Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/646116
Newspaper post SUNDAY • 28 FEBRUARY 2016 • ISSUE 851 • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY €1.40 Newspaper post €1.40 14 15 SUNDAY • 28 FEBRUARY 2016 • ISSUE 851 • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY maltatoday SUNDAY • 28 FEBRUARY 2016 • ISSUE 851 • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY today today • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY today • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY YOUR FIRST READ AND FIRST CLICK OF THE DAY WWW.MALTATODAY.COM.MT Michael Briguglio MALTATODAY SURVEY 'Labour have no guarantee of winning the next election' The limits of power 12 13 Ministers tumble in ratings as public responds to political events Mizzi: 'I will not resign' Energy minister says he will submit to Inland Revenue Department's annual audit on his trust set-up • Denies he is avoiding paying tax on asset base by using Panamanian company and New Zealand trust, a favourite set-up for those seeking privacy in international tax havens ENERGY and health minister Konrad Mizzi has declared he will not resign his Cabinet position af- ter declaring having set up an off- shore company in Panama, that is owned by a firm of trustees who will invest his family's wealth in an offshore trust in New Zealand. In documents shown to Malta- Today, Mizzi has declared that he is the ultimate beneficial owner of the Panamanian firm Hearnville Inc. – a company incorporated by the Mossack Fonseca firm of Pana- ma – whose shareholders today are the Orion Trust Limited of New Zealand, which are appointed as trustees of the Mizzi family's Roto- rua Trust in New Zealand. Mizzi also procured three state- ments, dated 26 February 2016, from ATC Administrators, which certified having held Hearnville's shares before transferring them to Orion Trust in July 2015; from Ori- on Trust saying that it owns 100% of Hearnville's shares, that nei- ther Orion Trust or Rotorua hold any bank accounts as yet, and that Hearnville has never traded to date and has no assets or bank accounts opened in its name. "Everything I'm doing is legal, it's a perfectly legitimate structure," Mizzi said, who refuted sugges- tions that he employed a structure that guarantees him full banking secrecy and the ability to collect payments without being obliged to declare the source of this income, while paying no tax on any money held in an offshore trust. Mizzi pledged to declare every change in his financial set-up with- in the parliamentary declaration of assets, and said he will submit himself to an annual audit by the Commissioner of Inland Revenue in order to keep everything above board. He insisted that his wealth, as declared in the 2014 parliamen- tary declaration, was the money he would invest in his offshore company; but did not state explic- itly the full extent of the wealth his wife Sai Mizzi Liang – a consul for Malta in Shanghai – acquired be- fore her marriage to him. He denied using the Panama- New Zealand offshore centres to avoid paying tax on the full value of his asset base or the invest- ments he will realise in future, and said he would pay full tax on any earnings he declares in Malta. He also denied suggestions that his Panama company enabled him to receive incomes whose sources he did not need to disclose, an untenable position for him as a minister who takes decisions on multi-million projects such as the Electrogas plant. "I have been transparent… you've seen the names of the trus- tees. I refute all allegations. [PN leader] Simon Busuttil has alleged that millions are in this bank ac- count. There isn't one penny." Mizzi has insisted that he has been up-front by declaring the structure of his offshore company and trust, and denied suggestions that he was being fiscally immoral for trying to minimise his tax ex- posure. "It's a long-term lifetime set-up. It is the right thing to do," Mizzi said, saying his earnings were sitting in a bank account ac- cumulating just 1% in interest. "I'm not avoiding tax, I'm not avoiding any laws. [UK prime minister] David Cameron's family trust has utilised Panama as well," Mizzi said with reference to a £25 million fund Cameron's father left in Panama after his death. Mizzi refuted charges that his offshore set-up jarred with his so- cial democrat pedigree, and said he would not close down the trust to be above suspicion. Konrad Mizzi: 'I have been up-front and declared the offshore structure. Anybody can investigate. I wil submit myself to the highest level of scrutiny.' Photo: James Galea Workers say security print company will lay off 430 De La Rue downsizing FULL INTERVIEW 6-7