1) Minister Konrad Mizzi has admitted to breaching the tax law. He did not register the New Zealand trust with the Commissioner of Inland Revenue, as he was obliged to do within 30 days. He has said that he and his advisers were unaware of this obligation. Ignorance of the law by a person who commits an offence is not an excuse for committing that offence. For this alone Konrad Mizzi should resign or be told to go. But standards and ethics are not Labour’s strong point.
2) The ball is in the tax commissioner’s court now. He has to decide whether to prosecute against Konrad Mizzi for this breach. Some people have been sent to prison for not paying their Value Added Tax dues. But my guess is that everything will be sorted out quietly. After all, it is the common mortals who are persecuted for every cent they owe.
3) Joseph Muscat seems quite confused these days. The Konrad Mizzi-Keith Schembri scandal has hit him and his government hard, right on the third anniversary of his taking over Castille, and when the rumblings of an oncoming election start to be heard. On Thursday he said Konrad Mizzi will pay a fine, and seconds later he said Konrad Mizzi has already paid it. The next day he said the fine is still to be determined. The PM has lost his aplomb.
4) When, on Friday, journalists turned up at the Labour headquarters to cover an event with the participation of the PM at 11.30am, they were told they had to wait until the working lunch was over to get comments from Joseph Muscat. When, during the event, Joseph Muscat came up with his position on gay marriage, Labour’s tactics became crystal clear. Journalists were told the PM would speak to them after the event because the PL wanted to keep them there to hear Muscat try to shift public debate away from the Panama scandal.
5) It is unbecoming of a Prime Minister to use the gay community for his political purposes. Bringing up gay marriage – which is a non-issue, given that civil unions are tantamount to gay marriage without the name – to deflect public attention is a devious way to gain political mileage at a time when the government is cornered. Simon Busuttil’s reply an hour later – that the PN has no problem with gay marriage – was the best move the PN could make.
6) Ann Fenech put money where her mouth is. She said she would file a libel suit against the Labour Party and, at the first opportunity, she did so. It has been a week since Keith Schembri said he would take legal action on claims made against him. But he has not yet filed his suit. At the height of the Gaffarena scandal, Michael Falzon also said several times that he would file libel suits. But he never did.
7) What Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri have done is a direct blow to Malta’s reputable financial services sector. Malta has built a solid reputation worldwide in this regard. But what will foreign investors do now, after top government officials chose to go elsewhere with their financial plans? Minister Edward Scicluna is not a happy man, but he is still to speak up.