Opposition Leader Simon Busuttil this evening slammed Prime Minister Joseph Muscat for failing to take action against no-portfolio Minister Konrad Mizzi.
Addressing a press conference after the motion of no confidence against Dr Mizzi failed to pass, Dr Busuttil said:
“Prime Minister Muscat had the opportunity to take action on the Panama scandal but he has failed. He has ignored public sentiment. Instead of doing what the people want him to do, he did what is in his personal interest.
“People were looking to the highest institution of Malta, and wondering that since Dr Muscat did nothing, maybe those inside the highest institution would take action. They failed.”
He continued by saying that “we [the Opposition] are not going to give up, we are going to continue insisting on this issue. I am proud that the Opposition reflected the people’s wishes, we reflected public sentiment and were true to our words.”
Minister Mizzi admitted, together with the Prime Minister’s chief of staff Keith Schembri, to have opened up a trust in New Zealand, which holds a company registered in the financially secretive jurisdiction of Panama.
“We know that the issue is not going to end here not just because of motion, but in the coming weekend there will be new information on the Panama scandal. One needs to see the new information, study it and take decisions on the basis of this.
“The opposition will continue to reflect the sentiment of the people. It is unacceptable for something like this to continue as though it is normal. If countries like Iceland, where a Prime Minister resigned, like in Spain – where a minister resigned...we have nothing less than these countries, we expect in the least to be like these countries,” he concluded.