Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/656590
8 maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 23 MARCH 2016 News IN ALL LEADING BOOK SHOPS HISTORY OF ORNITHOLOGY IN MALTA Fenech Adami accuses Mizzi of requesting 'total secrecy' for Panama company TIM DIACONO PN deputy leader Beppe Fenech Adami accused health and en- ergy minister Konrad Mizzi of specifically demanding total se- crecy and confidentiality when setting up an offshore company in Panama. "When he set up his company, he had to fill in a form in which he ticked the boxes for no audit and for total secrecy and confi- dentiality," Fenech Adami said on Monday night's edition of the current affairs programme 'Re- porter'. "He then hid the entire company behind a concrete wall by placing it in a trust in New Zealand." Fenech Adami was repeating allegations made in the blog of Malta Independent columnist Daphne Caruana Galizia, who claimed that a document evi- dencing such a form will soon be published. Fenech Adami accused the government of hiding Mizzi and OPM chief of staff Keith Schem- bri – who also owns a Panama- nian-registered company and a New Zealand trust – by sending economy minister Chris Cardo- na instead to the debate. "They are hiding Mizzi and Schembri because the public are demanding political responsibil- ity from them. Political respon- sibility dictates that ministers cannot open secret companies in Panama upon the advice of the OPM chief of staff, while at the same time conducting secret ne- gotiations with Azerbaijan." When asked by programme host Saviour Balzan whether he is alleging bribery or kickbacks from Azerbaijan, Fenech Adami responded that nobody believes Mizzi's claim that he set up the company to manage his assets – a f lat in Sliema and a house in London. Fenech Adami also accused Schembri of bribing former Al- lied Newspapers managing di- rector Adrian Hillman, before he quickly backtracked and warned that "serious allegations of brib- ery" exist. "The Times took instant action and suspended [Hillman] as soon as the allegations were made, but the Prime Minister is still de- fending Keith Schembri," the PN deputy leader said. Chris Cardona, who has in re- cent weeks taken centre stage as a main PL spokesperson, accused the Opposition of orchestrating a smear campaign aimed at desta- bilizing the economy. "While it is the Opposition's duty to be vigilant in promoting high democratic standards, Miz- zi has already admitted that he had made an error of judgement when setting up the company," he said. "Besides, the company isn't secret, because it has been placed in a trust in New Zea- land, a transparent country with which Malta has a number of bi- lateral agreements. "Where is Konrad Mizzi?" Car- dona asked. – He is currently an- alysing a report by [credit rating agency] Standard and Poor's that upgraded Enemalta's credit rat- ing," he said, answering his own question. He also referred to PN execu- tive council president Ann Fene- ch for "profiting", when the legal firm (Fenlex), of which she is a managing partner, helped a cli- ent set up a company in Panama back in 2003 Permit for Fenech Adami's Gharghur house 'obtained in 1981' Chris Cardona accused his counterpart of double standards over the manner in which his Gharghur villa was extended, and converted into developable land in the controversial ration- alisation scheme of 2006. "Fenech Adami protested against a national project that is going to boost the economy, because it is partially going to be built on ODZ land," he said, referring to Sadeen's 'Ameri- can Institute of Malta' project. "However, he forgot to tell the public that his own house had been built on ODZ land. People who live in the real world cannot accept such double standards." Referring to Fenech Adami's house as a "palace", Cardona re- counted how former prime min- ister Lawrence Gonzi had in Oc- tober 2008 instructed MEPA not to allow three-storey extensions on buildings that had been add- ed to the development zone two years prior. However, only three days later, Gonzi instructed MEPA's board secretary that he would approve individual plan- ning control applications, one of which affected Fenech Adami's development. Fenech Adami had already sub- mitted a planning application requesting clearance to build an additional storey and turret on his villa back in March 2008. MEPA issued its green light to this application two weeks after Gonzi's letter to the board sec- retary. Cardona challenged Fenech Adami to immediately publicise the invoices for the extension of his villa, and questioned whether PN leader Simon Busuttil will take any action against his right- hand man. He added that the footprint of the PN deputy leader's swim- ming pool and deck area – that maintained its ODZ status following the rationalisation scheme – significantly exceeded the maximum of 75 square me- tres permitted by MEPA for ODZ pools. "His deck area is so large that wedding receptions can be held there," he quipped, while brush- ing off accusations that Labour's media only released this news to deviate public attention from 'Panamagate'. "Is the Nationalist Party going to try and give us lessons on the timing of stories?" he asked. Fenech Adami, who has already sued One News for libel over their report on his villa, retorted that he had purchased the prop- erty as a terraced house back in 1994, and that its previous ten- ants has obtained a building per- mit in 1981. He brandished a piece of paper that he claimed was the original permit, signed by architect Rich- ard England. "The permit was obtained un- der a Labour administration, and indeed a Labour candidate is willing to vouch for me because he had actually wanted to buy the house as well," he said. "I purchased the property, which was already a complete terraced house, back in 1994, 13 years after its previous ten- ant had obtained a permit for it under a Labour government," he said. Taking the PL media to task for using a drone to film his prop- erty, he argued that the ration- alisation scheme did not merely affect his house but rather his entire street. "It was only logical for the street to be included in the rationalisa- tion scheme, because it was al- ready fully built-up before ODZ even became a legal concept [in 1992]," he said. "The land was al- ready developed, so why keep it as ODZ?" He vehemently denied that Gonzi's letter to MEPA's board secretary was in any way in- tended to placate him, arguing that his property was fully in line with the 2006 local plan for cen- tral Malta. "According to the plan, the maximum height of all build- ings not located in the village core is of three f loors and a semi- basement. Indeed, 25 blocks in my street are exactly the same height. "Cardona is pathetically prop- agating lies that can easily be disproved, because they want to shift public attention to a topic completely unrelated to Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri." Economy minister Chris Cardona (centre) and PN deputy leader Beppe Fenech Adami (right) with host Saviour Balzan on 'Reporter' Higher pensions for those who work beyond retirement age TIM DIACONO PEOPLE who delay their retire- ment will be rewarded through higher state pensions when they finally stop working. The novel scheme, an- nounced in this year's Budget, will initially only be available to workers in the private sec- tor who have paid their full 35 years of social security con- tributions and choose to put off their retirement until they reach 65. People eligible for a state pen- sion at 61 who delay their re- tirement until 62 will receive a 5% top-up on their pension. Those who choose to retire at 63 will receive an additional 5.5% pension top-up, while those who retire at 64 will re- ceive a further 6% bonus and those who retire at 65 will re- ceive a further 6.5%. All pension increases will be permanent. Effectively, this means that people eligible for a state pen- sion at 61 will be able to receive a 23% boost to their pension if they choose to continue work- ing until they reach 65. Therefore, a pensioner who would otherwise have only been eligible to a measly €800 monthly state pension will be eligible to a pension of €984. Social solidarity minister Michael Farrugia told a press conference that the scheme is intended to encourage more elderly people to stay in work. "Malta ranks poorly in glob- al rankings with regard to the number of elderly people who work and study, and this scheme will address the first factor," he said. The employment rate of el- derly people stood at 42% last year, up from 34.7% in 2012. He added that the govern- ment is looking to expand the scheme to the workers in the public sector and did not rule out expanding it for people who opt to continue working after 65 years old. "We will introduce similar initiatives in the future, but we have to start from somewhere and this is the first step," he said.