Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/662335
WWW.MALTATODAY.COM.MT WEDNESDAY EDITION €1.00 Newspaper post WEDNESDAY • 6 APRIL 2016 • ISSUE 463 • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY EDITORIAL PAGE 9 SAVIOUR BALZAN AT least four senior Cabinet ministers – deputy Prime Minis- ter Louis Grech, foreign minister George Vella, education minister Evarist Bartolo, and environment minister Leo Brincat – believe that Labour deputy leader for party affairs and energy minister Konrad Mizzi should at least re- sign his post as minister. They expressed these views during a Labour party parlia- mentary meeting on Monday, convened after the international revelations in the leak of the Pan- ama Papers, which confirmed the existence of the offshore Panama companies set up by Mizzi and the Prime Minister's chief of staff Keith Schembri, and their off- shore trusts in New Zealand. The four heavyweights insisted that an elected public servant could not justify the existence of a secret Panamanian company. Prime Minister Joseph Mus- cat has allowed his parliamen- tary group to openly discuss the matter, insisting that everyone should be allowed to express their opinion. However at the end of an ani- mated meeting, the parliamen- tary group concluded that a resignation by Mizzi would give credence to Opposition leader Simon Busuttil, who reinvigor- ated by the international release of the Panama Papers, has called for Mizzi's and Schembri's heads and announced a national protest on Sunday. Vella, a former Labour deputy leader himself, was the more vo- cal of the parliamentary group, citing the damage that 'Panama- gate' had inf licted on the party and government. One backbencher told Malta- Today there was consensus that Mizzi should offer his resigna- tion – and the concern was not reserved to the old-timers but was also shared by younger MPs. The backbencher also said some MPs were angry that they had been told that the leak had definitely originated from Miz- zi's and Schembri's financial advisors, Nexia BT, when it has become clear that the source was the collective effort of journal- ists working on Panama Papers together with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. Yesterday a spokesman for Nex- ia BT told MaltaToday that the company, which is an agent for Mossack Fonseca in Malta and handled Mizzi's and Schembri's business affairs, was relieved to confirm that there had been no leaks from within their organisa- tion. Addressing the House of Rep- resentatives on Monday night, Muscat insisted he would not sack his chief of staff or the en- ergy minister over secret off- shore companies they set up in Panama, which are managed by their offshore trusts in New Zea- land. The Prime Minister insist- ed he will not take such action if tax audits being carried out on both men reveal no wrongdo- ing, and they are not found to have been lying. Muscat took comfort in the fact that Mizzi had taken the step to declare his trust, a claim Mizzi repeated in the House as he insisted that he had been truthful about his business af- fairs. Opposition leader Simon Bu- suttil railed against Mizzi, say- ing he had been economical with the truth when he spoke to MaltaToday to reveal the exist- ence of a trust in New Zealand. Yesterday Muscat also played down news that Mizzi and Schembri attempted to have a bank account opened first in Dubai and then in Panama, but which were refused by bankers because they were politically ex- posed persons. Muscat said these were "standard practices" em- ployed by the handlers who were opening the offshore companies. Senior ministers want Mizzi to resign, but stand with PM Senior Cabinet ministers believe Mizzi should step down but will stand by their Prime Minister Trustee owners of Panama firms granted wide investment powers MATTHEW VELLA THE offshore trust that energy minister Konrad Mizzi set up in New Zealand granted his trustees an extensive array of options by which income was to flow into Ro- torua trust. Apart from enjoying a zero-tax rate on the assets in the NZ offshore trust, the trustees executing his or- ders were able to use the money to invest it in financial instruments, property, high-risk and speculative investments, as well as to loan any money without any security or in- terest. The contents of the declaration of the Rotorua trust were among the documents published by the Inter- national Consortium of Investiga- tive Journalists, but which Mizzi made available last month to jour- nalists who interviewed him after he declared the existence of a New Zealand trust. The declaration maps out the de- gree of control accorded to Orion Trust of New Zealand, the trustees of Rotorua, accountants from the offices of Bentleys Chartered Ac- countants in Auckland. On instructions by Konrad Mizzi as settlor, Orion Trust are empow- ered to invest any money in the trust for the purchase of stocks, funds, shares, securities or other invest- ment or property. They also have the power to invest the trust fund "in any manner as the trustees in their absolute discretion think fit", as well as invest in high- risk, speculative or hazardous in- vestments, and invest in assets that do not produce an income. Additionally, the trustees are em- powered to lend any money in the trust with or without any security or interest, to any beneficiary of the trust, in this case being Konrad Miz- zi's wife and children; as well as bor- row or raise money as they think fit. The trustees can also incorporate companies or partnerships. In what was the biggest leak of doc- uments surrounding the tax secrets of the elite and powerful this week, Panama Papers – over 11.5 million documents from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca – con- firmed the existence of Konrad Miz- zi's offshore company Hearnville Inc, which was acquired for him by a Mossack Fonseca firm, ATC Ad- ministrators. PAGE 2 PN leader rallies troops for anti-corruption protest PAGE 4