Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/811845
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 16 APRIL 2017 3 News Mizzi and Schembri sue Caruana Galizia for libel Cardona tied political career to project's success PAUL COCKS THE Prime Minister's chief of staff, Keith Schembri, and minister Konrad Mizzi announced yester- day they would be filing a libel suit against blogger and Malta Inde- pendent columnist Daphne Caru- ana Galizia on Monday, after she claimed that large sums of money had been transferred from an Azer- baijani bank account to accounts belonging to their offshore Panama companies, and to accounts be- longing to Egrant Inc, a third com- pany registered in Panama. Egrant was one of the three com- panies set up through the Malta of- fices of Nexia BT, by Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca. But the Panama Papers leaks never conclu- sively revealed Egrant's ownership, with Nexia BT boss Brian Tonna claiming on the eve of the Panama Papers committee of MEPs' visit to Malta that the offshore company was his own. Schembri and Mizzi said they would also be asking the court to hear his case urgently. In her post, under the heading 'Egrant Inc: hiding in plain sight', the blogger claimed that through a series of "serendipitous flukes", she had discovered who owns the third company in the Panama Papers scandal, Egrant Inc. "This website also has informa- tion on several movements of very large sums of money from the bank account of a company owned by po- litically exposed persons (PEPs) in Azerbaijan to bank accounts held by Egrant Inc, Hearnville Inc (ultimate beneficial owner: Konrad Mizzi, the Minister Within The Office of the Prime Minister) and Tillgate Inc (UBO: Keith Schembri, the Prime Minister's chief of staff)," she wrote. A Maltese bank, set up after 2013, was used to move the money, she added. Caruana Galizia said she would reveal full details this coming week as she was waiting to contact several people for comment and could not reach them over Easter weekend. In his statement, Schembri denied the claims carried in the blog and said that whoever made any allega- tions had the duty to substantiate them. "The internal chaos within the Nationalist Party will usher in a season of lies and fake news," his statement read. "I am determined not to ignore any further lies and fake stories about me." Mizzi too denied the allegations. "No sum of money was ever trans- ferred to Hearnville Inc.," he said in a statement. "Indeed, Hearnville Inc. never had any bank account." He insisted no funds from or related to Azerbaijan were ever transferred in any way to him or any member of his family. "Daphne Caruana Galizia is lying outright," he said. In a Facebook post, Keith Schem- bri said he had replied to questions from the Times, denying holding any interests in Azerbaijan through his Kasco group of companies or having tendered for business there. He also denied knowing who "Ka- maladdin Heydarov's front-man" was, when asked whether he had in- troduced the man – ostensibly busi- nessman Manuchehr Khangah – to Nexia BT, his auditors. Khangah, the chairman of the AZ group of companies, had opened six differ- ent holding com- panies – the Bach, Beethoven, Mo- zart, Puccini, Ver- di, and Vivaldi in- vestment holding companies – under parent company Mulsanne Invest- ment, in Malta in 2014, through the offices of Nexia BT. They were dis- solved a year later. A leaked US cable published on Wikileaks, in which the US em- bassy in Baku profiled the most powerful families in Azerbaijan back in 2010, described Khangah as a front man for the Heydarov con- glomerate belonging to Azeri min- ister Kamaladdin Heydarov and his two sons Nijat and Tale. The Panama Papers had revealed the existence of Schembri's and Mizzi's secret offshore companies, leading to national protests led by the Nationalist Party against Joseph Muscat's administration. Mizzi was 'demoted' to minister without portfolio in the Office of the Prime Minister, but retains to this day re- sponsibility for energy affairs and the completion of the Delimara gas plant, the government's key policy plank. CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 "Develop- ment projects such as White Rocks had been shelved under previous Nationalist administrations, but some really strong investors have now shown interest in investing in it and I am tying my political ca- reer with the success of its invest- ment," Cardona said on TVM's Reporter in November 2014. In September 2016, MaltaToday reported that White Rocks Devel- opment Company was expected to pay the government €22 million for the sale of the land. However, following the contro- versial deal reached with the db Group over the transfer of land in St Julian's, the consortium is re- portedly seeking better conditions than the ones dicussed so far. The original brief included a 65-year consession, however it is understood that the intention of the consortium is to negotiate a lower price or a longer period un- der the current conditions. Announcing the international expression of interest in June 2014, Cardona said that after years of empty promises on White Rocks, the Labour government was committed to see this project through. "It is a prime site which has been left abandoned for years. This project will start during this legislature," Cardona said. A call for international expres- sions of interest was issued in June 2014 and government held initial talks with 11 bidders before choosing White Rocks Develop- ment Company as the preferred bidder. The brief allows the develop- ment of real estate and luxury five-star hotels, luxury units, and 'high-quality lifestyle community' villages. The White Rocks area covers 45 hectares (449,885 square metres) of land but only 38%, or 135,600 square metres of the project area can be developed. The whole project will be fi- nanced, designed, constructed, and operated by the consortium spearheaded by Michael Bianchi, one of Malta's most established businessmen who however keeps a low profile in his role as a mid- dleman, bringing together foreign clients and local entrepreneurs. The consortium also includes British property moguls Iand and Richard Livingstone, the Alpine Group headed by MHRA presi- dent Tony Zahra, Bonnici Broth- ers owned by Emanuel Bonnici, John Bonnici and Mario Bonnici; Mizzi Holdings Ltd, with Maurice Mizzi, Brian Mizzi and Kenneth Mizzi as directors; Sea Estate Ltd with Joseph Eucharist Vella of Karkanja Ltd; Elma Ltd with Den- nis Baldacchino of Tal-Maghtab Construction Ltd, and Charles El- lul of Elbros Construction Ltd. Columnist alleges money transfers to Panama companies and claims she knows ownership of mysterious 'Egrant' Daphne Caruana Galizia alleged that bank accounts linked to secret companies owned by Keith Schembri (centre) and Konrad Mizzi (right) had received large amounts of money from Azerbaijan The call for 'Expression of Interest' was launched by economy minister Chris Cardona in June 2014