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maltatoday, FRIDAY, 12 MAY 2017 4 News Scicluna dismisses German minister's attack on Malta as 'political stunt' PAUL COCKS CLAIMS made by a German re- gional finance minister - who accused Malta of being Eu- rope's Panama and of shelter- ing 70,000 offshore companies - were wrong and could be eas- ily dismissed as a last-grasp at- tempt to gain votes in an elec- tion the German politician is contesting this Sunday and in which he is trailing behind his opponents, finance minister Edward Scicluna said this af- ternoon. "This regional minister thought to use this in a political attack against Angela Merkel, has paid for data stolen from Switzerland and is known in international circles to ignore protocol," Scicluna said. The Social Democrat Walter Borjan made his allegations after journalists reported that tax authorities in the city of Wuppertal were provided with the data from an anonymous source. It was claimed that there are multiple German companies and up to 2000 Ger- man taxpayers currently regis- tered in Malta. Borjan's ministry said that "the data reveals how corpora- tions and private persons on the Mediterranean island use company braids to bypass tax in Germany in a big way" and that "this is partially done with legal tricks, but often also by means of offshore companies, which serve exclusively as tax evasion constructions." But Scicluna yesterday lam- basted Borjan's claims, saying this was - in fact - not a leak of secret documents at all since all data was already available on a website. As to the accusation of Malta harbouring 70,000 offshore companies, the finance min- ister said there were around 70,000 companies in all regis- tered in Malta. "There are currently around 20,000 companies in liquida- tion," he said. "The rest, some 50,000 companies, are all the companies registered in Mal- ta." Scicluna also pointed out that Malta had no offshore com- pany register or setup and that such claims were often levied against smaller EU member states as a bullying tactic by a number of journalists and poli- ticians across Europe. "This has often happened to us with regards to our tax sys- tem, where we are accused of being a tax haven," the minister said. Scicluna, who was address- ing a press conference with parliamentary secretary Ian Borg, ackonwledged that state- ments like that of the German regional minister, as well as the current political atmosphere, coupled with local and media reports, were proving harmful to Malta and its reputation. The current uncertainty on the political stage could also have played a part in the deci- sion by British insurance giant Hiscox to choose Luxembourg over Malta to relocate to post- Brexit, he said. "Many issues come into play, such as the workforce, pay scales and accessibility," Sci- cluna said. "But this political atmosphere, as well as state- ments like those of Borjan, are harming Malta, no doubt." He went on to explain that the European Commission's eco- nomic outlook for Malta con- firmed the solid growth in the economy and forecast a further strengthening of the country's Gross Domestic Product. He said that the Commission had also praised the extraor- dinary high growth of invest- ment in Malta, which remained well above average even despite a slight downturn in 2016. "The success now confirmed by the Commission was brought about through the government's commitment to make work pay, to complement the many initiatives introduced in this legislature," he said. Scicluna said it was obvious the Opposition had failed to understand the reason behind the government's economic success because it was evident in the proposal being put for- ward by the Nationalist Party that, if successful, they would depart completely from the current system. Borg said that the Opposi- tion was being irresponsible in presenting proposals and saying an explanation would be forthcoming within 100 days of being elected to the government. "We are seeing the same trend, from the proposed grant to the 100 couples who will settle in Gozo, to offer- ing free childcare for all and tax-free pensions across the board," he said. Borg wondered who was ad- vising the Opposition leader to put forward such proposals without double-checking the economic cost beforehand. Labour accuses PN of downplaying costs in pensions proposals A Nationalist Party proposal to raise the minimum nation- al pension at a cost of €8.5 million would in fact cost, at least, €18.5 million, and could even end up costing €115 mil- lion across the board, tour- ism minister Edward Zammit Lewis claimed yesterday. The minister, who was ad- dressing a press conference at Labour Party headquarters with party candidate Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi, said that Opposition leader Simon Bu- suttil was repeatedly showing he was not fit for purpose and would not be a good leader for the country. "Busuttil said this morning that a new PN government would raise the minimum pension to €169 weekly, and that 18,000 pensioners would benefit at a cost of €8.5 mil- lion," Zammit Lewis said. "But a simple computation of the proposal immediate- ly shows that the measure would in fact cost €22.5 mil- lion." He said that Busuttil had al- so failed to consider the prin- ciple of relativity and did not address how other pension schemes could be affected. "In fact, if he did, this meas- ure would end up costing €115 million each year," Zam- mit Lewis said. He noted that it was no won- der that Busuttil and the PN were insisting that the elec- tion should not be decided on the proposals. "Today's assumptions show how Busuttil is not fit to lead the country and is merely trying to one-up the proposal put forward by the Labour Party." Zrinzo Azzopardi said that the PN was repeatedly refus- ing to publish details to sub- stantiate the proposals it was presenting, as it did with the proposal to give a €10,000 grant to anyone settling in Gozo or starting a family there. "This latest gaffe by the PN leader shows how unprepared he is, even when trying to back up his statements with figures," he said. Edward Scicluna completely dismissed claims by a German minister as a political stunt by a politician who was facing the prospect of losing an election this Sunday