The Prime Minister should sack both Minister Konrad Mizzi and chief of staff Keith Schembri following their admission that they had opened a company in Panama, Nationalist Party deputy leader Beppe Fenech Adami said this afternoon.

Muammar Gaddafi’s children, ousted Tunisian president Ben Ali and Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar used Panama to hide their money, he said.

Dr Fenech Adami said that former Labour Party deputy leader Anglu Farrugia had been forced to leave the party for a much less grievous offence than that committed by Dr Mizzi and Mr Schembri. He asked what do Dr Mizzi and Mr Schembri know for them not to be given the side as Dr Farrugia has been.

Dr Fenech Adami broke down the facts about the scandal regarding both Dr Mizzi and Mr Schembri, saying that:

·         They both opened secret companies since PL have been in government;

·         They both opened a secret company in Panama;

·         They used the same financial consultant in Malta;

·         They used the same financial consultant abroad;

·         They both secretly went to Azerbaijan with the Prime Minister in December 2014 which led to a €14m loss according to the Auditor General.

Dr Fenech Adami said that “now, after being caught, the left and right hands of Muscat are trying to fool everyone and say that they founded these secret companies for no reason whatsoever.” Going so far as to say that they are almost giving the impression that after all the effort it took to pen a trust and a shell company, they had no real intention to hide anything.

The shadow minister pointed out that Dr Mizzi and Mr Schembri are essentially running the government, also breaking down what they have been directly responsible for ever since:

·         The choice of the Electrogas consortium to build a powerstation costing around €450m;

·         A guarantee of €380m from the government to Electrogas;

·         The selling off of a third of Enemalta;

·         The selling off of the BWSC powerstation;

·         The selling of large amounts of land to Enemalta;

·         Contracts regarding procurement of oil;

·         Hedging contracts with SOCAR;

·         Selling of the Gozo General Hospital, St Luke’s Hospital and Karin Grech Hospital.

The President of the Administrative Council and PN Candidate, Karol Aquilina, said that Mr Schembri should immediately let us know the name of his company and its registered address. Dr Aquilina also pointed out, reiterating what Dr Fenech Adami said previously, that the Maltese public is not only angered and disgusted by the scandal itself, but by the lack of an appropriate reaction by the Prime Minister.

Dr Fenech Adami, when asked by the media about the protest against corruption happening on Sunday at 3pm in front of the Auberge de Castille, said that Sunday is just the beginning. This scandal has rattled the government to its core and the protest might also be the beginning of the end for this legislation.

It was also said during question time that, after PN MP Tonio Fenech said that Dr Mizzi appears to have breached the Income Tax Management Act, the police have a duty to follow up on the allegations and investigate accordingly.