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MT 24 April 2016

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maltatoday, SUNDAY, 24 APRIL 2016 3 News Mizzi's London property acquired for £365,000 MATTHEW VELLA A London property acquired by en- ergy minister Konrad Mizzi in 2010 might be worth just over half a mil- lion pounds sterling, according to comparable prices found on online property sales websites. Mizzi, who faces pressure to re- sign for having opened an offshore company in Panama that hides his beneficial ownership, had claimed he sought to use proceeds from the rental of his London property to invest in his offshore trust in New Zealand. Land registry records procured by MaltaToday confirm Mizzi and his wife acquired their three-bed- roomed Blackheath semi-detached in June 2010 for £365,000 (€440,000 in 2010). The property was valued at £249,000 back in 2003 and £140,000 in 1999. Property websites con- sulted by this newspaper put the price of a similar three-bedroomed at anything between £450,000 and £550,000 at today's prices. Mizzi declared just over €37,500 in rental income over 2013 and 2014, according to tax returns provided by the House of Representatives. Mizzi had said that his offshore structure was intended for a family trust for assets and investment, and prospective investments include the leveraging of his property in London. Mizzi had also said his trustees, Ori- on Trust New Zealand, would man- age "future investments which will seek to attain a reasonable return for the beneficiaries". Earlier this week, Mizzi did not dis- close the address of his UK property, sought in a bid to ascertain its value. "Minister Mizzi pays due taxes both in the UK and Malta. His tax state- ments have already been made pub- lic in the media. He has subjected himself to a fully-fledged tax audit which no other politician has done in the history of Malta. He is fully collaborating on this because he has always acted fairly," a spokesperson said. Mizzi's tax declarations show that in 2013 he earned €40,442 as min- isterial salary, and €16,025 in rental income, and benefited from a 20% tax reduction on rent of €3,205. In 2014, he earned a €51,672 salary and €21,543 in rental income, and ben- efited from a tax reduction of €4,309. In his ministerial declarations, Mizzi has also declared some €310,000 in bank deposits, apart from €329,000 in loans for the Slie- ma property where he resides. The tax declarations raise ques- tions as to Mizzi's alleged intentions to open an offshore company in Pan- ama since the Australian Financial Review published emails from Nexia BT – who represent Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca in Malta – showing the banks consulted for the opening of a bank account for Hearnville Inc. demanded at least $800,000 in initial annual deposits. According to a signed statement from 16 June, 2015 released by the AFR, Mizzi said that his offshore trust in New Zealand would be fund- ed by "personal assets and proceeds from business" and that his Pana- manian company Hearnville would receive fees from "management con- sulting and brokerage." According to emails published in the AFR, Nexia BT and Mossack Fonseca enquired with seven differ- ent banks to open accounts for Miz- zi's Hearnville Inc, as well as for Till- gate, the offshore company opened for the Prime Minister's chief of staff, Keith Schembri. Schembri has confirmed on his part that his offshore structure was intended to transfer profits gener- ated from his Kasco business group, and as a holding structure for waste recycling business interests in the Gulf and India, and to expand his business group in the remote gam- ing industry. But Schembri denied that this was part of a joint business enterprise he was setting up with Mizzi. - THREE SPECTACULAR COLOURFUL NIGHTS - MARSAXLOKK SATURDAY 16.04.2016 GOZO SATURDAY 23.04.2016 VALLETTA SATURDAY 30.04.2016 Sladden got painting for works for Allied director SAVIOUR BALZAN THE Allied group's acting man- aging director Michel Rizzo was prompted to come forward and explain the nature of the works that Pierre Sladden, a sub-con- tractor for Allied's Progress Press premises, provided him after MaltaToday published details of the €34,000 works he provided to PN deputy leader Mario de Mar- co, a member of the Strickland Foundation's council which owns 78% of Allied Newspapers. Rizzo has denied having had any intention of having the work done for free, after MaltaToday re- vealed that De Marco paid for the works in March and April soon after the resignation of Allied's managing director Adrian Hill- man over allegations of bribery. Sladden was the focus of atten- tion from The Times, which is published by Allied Newspapers, after it emerged that he held a British Virgin Islands company in which he deposited money from works he carried out at Progress Press. Like him, both Hillman and Keith Schembri, who supplied Progress Press with their new printing machinery, had opened BVI companies. Schembri is now the chief of staff to the prime minister. Rizzo has now confirmed he gave Sladden a painting by a re- nowned Maltese artist, after Slad- den did not issue an invoice. Rizzo said he did this to cover the cost of the works carried out at his house: he used Sladden's Redmap to carry out urgent repairs and minor plastering and retouching after pieces of stonework crum- bled from his St Julian's apart- ment balcony in February 2013. He said that he made it very clear to Sladden that he was en- gaging him on a personal basis and that he would be paying for the works. But Rizzo said he nev- er received the invoice: "When I gave up on Mr Sladden, I took it on myself to purchase him a gift as I didn't want to remain in a state of indebtedness on this mat- ter. I never again had any reason to engage Mr Sladden or his com- pany for any further works." Allied's board secretary Clinton Calleja, who stated he has no ex- ecutive role or any decision-mak- ing powers in the group, said he engaged Redmap on minor works which included a 3cm-thick ce- ment layer for an estimated €200- €300. "I repeatedly asked for a tax invoice. Despite these requests, Redmap never sent the invoice." Calleja said he does not sit on management committees or any adjudication boards nor does he advice on any adjudication or procurement processes at Allied. Konrad and Sai Mizzi bought the semi-detached house in south-east London in 2010

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