The Malta Independent’s stable has been named as an official partner to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists that released the Swissleaks and subsequently the much talked about Panama Papers.

The latter needs no introduction. Suffice to say that the Prime Minister’s left and right hand men – his super Minister, now without portfolio Konrad Mizzi and of course his Chief of Staff Keith Schembri of Kasco fame – were both mentioned in the leaks as owning companies in Panama. The latter also opened a company in the British Virgin Islands.

But what does being a partner of the ICIJ mean? It means that we have unlimited and unfettered access to the raw data that the Consortium has piled together. Sifting through it is no easy feat, as we discovered with the Swissleaks data. But we dug to the very bottom of the barrel and found more and more material.

When we broke the Swissleaks story, we were threatened with libel and all sorts of other legal action. Yet the data stood firm and we were proved right in the end, so much so, that those involved made public apologies and were made to regularise their position.

And the same will hold true with the Panama Papers. Mr Schembri and Dr Mizzi have filed libel suits against this newspaper and other media outlets, which also have access to the full documentation. Every day, there are new developments and far from becoming clearer the whole story seems to become murkier and murkier as screen after screen is found in the way names and companies and bank deals were done with the utmost of secrecy.

It is clearly a strategy being employed. Both Mr Schembri and Dr Mizzi are making repeated libel threats and filing writs in court in an attempt to muzzle us. It is a clever ploy, despite the judicial reforms that have taken place, it is still ridiculously cost effective to institute libel proceedings,simply because it they lose the cases, they will only have to pay lawyers’ fees. If they think we are afraid, or not up to facing their challenge, they are very mistaken. While these two men have the means and the money to throw at their problem (which is us), we also hold a very powerful weapon in our hands, and it is something very simple and innocuous – the truth.

This publishing house’s newspapers and portal take collective pride in our name – The Malta Independent. We have always striven to find the truth and give a service to not only our readers, but also our democracy. We are part of the fourth establishment, the media – defined in vocabulary as a check and balance against government and a safeguard to democracy.

They say money talks, but they also say that the pen is mightier than the sword. They also say that there is no more an effective weapon than the truth. We are in possession of the pen and also the truth. We will prevail, and no amount of intimidation will stop us from digging to the bottom of that barrel once again and leaving no stone unturned until we get the full truth of what has been going on behind the back of each and every Maltese and Gozitan citizen who has been bullied in one way or another and deceived by members of a government who promised us that meritocracy was to be the order of the day.