On Wednesday, the European Parliament will hold a plenary debate with Prime Minister Joseph Muscat on the rule of law in Malta. The Greens called for this debate linked to the Panama Papers as two members of the government (Keith Schembri, the Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff, and Minister for Tourism Konrad Mizzi) were revealed as owners of letter box companies. Both were re-appointed to the reelected government last Friday. Serious questions about the rule of law in Malta have been raised after leaked reports by the Maltese anti-money-laundering agency (FIAU) incriminating Schembri and the Maltese Pilatus Bank. The suspicions of money laundering from passport-sale kickbacks have not been refuted yet.
Apart from this Wednesday’s debate, prime minister Muscat has already rejected an invitation from the European Parliament’s PANA committee on money laundering, tax avoidance and tax evasion to appear following the allegations linked to his wife to the Panama company Egrant. Mr Schembri also turned down multiple invitations to appear before the PANA committee. As did also Nexia BT Partners Karl Cini and Brian Tonna. So far, no serious and fair investigation has been opened in Malta.
I would like to invite you to a phone press conference on Wednesday, 14 June, at 14h00 (Brussels time) to explain the latest developments and present new information in regards to this issue. I will also be available for questions.
If you are a journalist and would like to participate in this press conference, please send an email to sven.giegold@ep.europa.eu and you will receive the access information for the telephone conference room.
Best regards,
Sven Giegold MEP
The plenary debate with Prime Minister Muscat will be webstreamed on Wednesday, 14 June in the afternoon (second point on the plenary agenda starting at 15h00) here:
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/ep-live/en/plenary/