Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/655581
14 We have a minister who owns an offshore company in Panama hiding his beneficial ownership, a situation that suggests tax avoidance at the very least. You say there is corruption here: can you tell me what the corruption is? The main question is why have Mizzi and Schembri not been sacked. It is obvious to everyone else that they should have been sacked. So who is the real power in this country? Is Joseph Muscat or Keith Schembri, the real prime minister? When a minister or the PM's aide opens a secret company in Panama, it elicits a suspicion of corruption. You don't open such a company to keep it empty, or to deposit Mizzi's declared income. The suspicion of corruption is great. And I've called on the Com- missioner of Police to investigate. Why hasn't he already taken steps? You said in parliament that 'millions' were being held off- shore. You're one who believes MPs should not have immunity from libel: should voters demand for some hard proof or can we rely on your allegation? These companies are not used for a minister's salary, but for mil- lions to be deposited in them. But then again you don't even need to see the cash to know that opening a Panama company is wrong. You don't need an audit to see that this is wrong. An investigation is super- ficial after their admission: it shows their intentions. Even if found to be 'empty' it only confirms that they intended putting money there. Muscat won't sack Schembri, and won't sack Mizzi unless the tax investigations find money stashed offshore. Do you think he's put his mind at rest that the people out there are not respond- ing to what you are saying? On the contrary. I think every- one is paying attention. Everyone – except the Prime Minister – be- lieves it is wrong for a minister to open a Panama company. Even in Brussels, people I met said they were amazed how they [Mizzi and Schembri] had not yet resigned. Over 40% of the so-called 'switchers' polled by MaltaToday say they trust neither leader. Do you think this is setting Muscat's mind at rest, that he can weather the storm? I don't agree with this assess- ment. People expect action and this is a turning point on Muscat's credibility. From now onwards, unless he takes action, the peo- ple will not believe him anymore, as much as they don't believe the mud being thrown at me, at Ann Fenech, Mario de Marco and now Beppe Fenech Adami. They have realised that these are deviations from the central issue of why Mizzi and Schembri are still there. The PN uses strong words on the Labour government: 'crisis of corruption' is one, 'Mafia inside Castille' is another. Do you really believe that the Prime Minister is on the take or corruptible, or that Castille is the site of 'organised crime'? Who does not work against cor- ruption, is complicit in corruption. The prime minister should remove [Mizzi and Schembri] if he believes in fighting corruption. Labour defends its record by saying it introduced a Whistle- blower's Act and removed pre- scription on political corrup- tion… And at the same time Labour swallows up the institutions and prevents them from functioning. The Times has removed its direc- tor [Adrian Hillman] and appoint- ed judge Giovanni Bonello [on a board of inquiry over allegations by Daphne Caruana Galizia that Hill- man was bribed by Keith Schem- bri]… and the government does nothing. Is it not strange that The Times have not forwarded these allega- tions to the police? That's their business. From where I stand, the suspension and the board of inquiry are an exam- ple of good governance; and on the other hand you still have Schembri in his position. Do you see Muscat as a corrup- tible person? Who doesn't fight corruption, is corrupt. Undoubtedly. You have asked for police inves- tigations into the privatisation of a 33% stake in Enemalta, the ElectroGas contract that was re- cently verified by the European Commission, the hospital priva- tisations, and Mizzi's ministerial instruction to hedge fuel with SO- CAR. What are your suspicions in each of these cases? When a minister is caught lying – his half-admission to MaltaToday over his New Zealand trust is tan- tamount to a lie – and is the same man who signed multi-million contracts, I certainly want to have them investigated. The suspicion is corruption. It is common sense… these contracts are not public and for three years he has refused publishing them. That Panama company is a smok- ing gun. You believe there is a link be- tween these contacts, and his Panama company… It's not my work to investigate Mizzi… it is common sense to sus- pect corruption for a minister who signs these contracts to have this Panama company. Can I be clear- er? Everyone knows this. What I want are the supposedly independ- ent institutions to investigate. I want politicians to have the moral compass to take action. Should you be the one to actu- ally file a criminal complaint? It is their job to take up the ini- tiative, on the basis of information that is out there. Take The Times affair, which has taken steps on the allegations, and the government has not. It is doubly serious: the PM is either impotent or unwilling to take steps against corruption, and the institutions' hands appear tied. MaltaToday's surveys show your trust rating doubling since Panamagate. You could be prime minister in 2018: would you na- tionalise Enemalta so that it re- takes the BWSC power station sold to the Chinese? The first thing I'll do is give moral direction to the country, to put people's minds at rest that steps will be taken when something is wrong. Secondly I will see institu- tions empowered to take all neces- sary steps. Three years since the privatisation, we haven't yet seen the contract; when I met Shanghai Electric Power, they said they had no problem publicising the con- tract. Will you stop the 18-year LNG contract with SOCAR? I was clear in the last Budget speech, I publicly committed my- self to buy electricity from the cheapest source, whether from ElectroGas or from the Malta- Sicily interconnector. I don't have the published contract, but my policy position is clear: I'll buy the cheapest electricity. And I will give consumers the liberty to decide from which source they get their electricity – the interconnector, BWSC, or ElectroGas. Muscat is binding himself to ElectroGas's price. You are a critic of Malta's re- lationship with Azerbaijan as a recent poster issued by the PN on social media showed; should we expect you to make a commit- ment that you will not deal with this country or its state corpora- tions? Azerbaijan is one of the most corrupt countries in the world. What I can control on what we do – and that's the guarantee I can give, that the Maltese government will not be corrupt. In the past Lawrence Gonzi met with Ilham Aliyev – bilaterally at a Warsaw summit. What will you do differently as prime minister: refuse to meet with anyone not democratically elected or whose regime falls foul of accepted in- ternational human rights stand- ards? I will be ready to meet any country['s leader] that has rela- tions with the EU – as Azerbaijan indeed does – but if I meet a thief, it doesn't mean I am ready to be a thief as well. Are you referring to Muscat here? No I am not. I'm saying that if there are doubts on someone I meet, I'm not ready to do those same things. Your party's slogan is 'honest politics', you have published a very important document on good governance, and you regularly denounce the systemic abuse in- side government. You have been part of a PN government that had its record tarnished by ac- cusations of nepotism and cor- ruption – I mention your role in the context of the 2009 MEPs' campaign, meeting stakehold- ers with Lawrence Gonzi in the run-up to 2013, and then as his deputy leader; do you feel that voters have not yet seen you earn redemption for the former PN government's actions? You know I have never been part of the government. I was an MEP up till 2013. You have accompanied Gonzi during his 2008 electoral press conferences, been part of the PN's strategy group, and were close to Gonzi before 2013. I'm not say- ing your record is tarnished. But you were part of that National- ist leadership… there's a certain systemic abuse inside govern- ment that comes from decades of the way of 'doing government' in Malta. I don't think that saying I was 'part of the government' is correct. I've been in the Maltese parliament for just the past three years. I have nothing to be ashamed of and I'm proud of the PN's legacy. We're certainly not perfect. In 2013 I said that 36,000 people could not be wrong, and I repeatedly recognised past mistakes on good governance and on the environment. But let's move on, let's change our policies, Interview By Matthew Vella maltatoday, SUNDAY, 20 MARCH 2016 'I will be ready to meet any country['s leader] that has relations with the EU – as Azerbaijan indeed does MEETINGS 'People expect action and this is a turning point on Muscat's credibility. Unless he takes action the people will not believe him anymore' EXPECTATIONS The new radical