Prime Minister Joseph Muscat today chose to take local politics to London when he not-so-subtly attacked the Nationalist Party’s loan scheme during the Anti-Corruption Summit, which is being hosted by UK PM David Cameron.
In a short speech, Dr Muscat said corruption was not limited to politics. “Just look at what is happening in the world of business and sport. Corruption can also involve the judiciary – there were cases in my country where members of the judiciary were prosecuted and found guilty of corruption.”
Turning to the Panama Papers scandal, Dr Muscat said one of his cabinet members (Konrad Mizzi) was mentioned in the leaked documents. “I had to take decisions. Some said I was too tough, others that I was too lenient. One of the points that came out of that debate was that actions that are not illegal might still not be correct.”
The PM said Maltese MPs were required to declare their assets and their tax returns were also made public. The government, he said, had also removed time-barring on cases of political corruption.
Malta has also introduced “a very good” whistleblowers act, he said, noting that there was currently one ongoing case (the Gozo works-for-votes case involving former Gozo Minister Giovanna Debono’s husband.)
“We have also, for the first time, introduced strict party financing regulations. There is still the possibility that some smart person comes up with a system that allows parties to receive loans, instead of donations, but this was still a good step forward.”
Yesterday, Dr Muscat attended the ‘Tackling corruption together’ conference, which was organised by the Commonwealth. He said the Panama Papers revelations about Konrad Mizzi had forced him to take ‘tough political decisions.’
PM has no shame - PN
In reply, the Nationalist Party issued a statement saying that instead of taking care of things at home, as the general public expects of him, the Prime Minister has gone to London to take part in a ‘seminar about corruption’.
The PN said: “Without any shame, he said that he took decisions about the Panama Papers. If he thinks he can hoodwink people, then he is mistaken. The only decisions he took was to keep two politicians who opened secret companies in Panama – Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri – on board. Actually, he gave one of them a promotion.”
The PN said that criticism from abroad hits home with Joseph Muscat and he had to admit that he has the only cabinet minister in Europe on his team who is involved in the Panama Papers scandal.
“To cover for this, he has lied outside Malta about the PN’s Cedoli Loan Scheme – a professional, fully legal and successful scheme,” said the PN.
The PN said that Dr Muscat’s threats, both in and outside of Malta, are anti-democratic and only take place in dictatorships. “He will not stop the truth about the corruption crisis the government finds itself in from coming out. He has no shame,” concluded the PN. In another statement, the Labour Party said that Simon Busuttil was guilty by association.