Recent revelations from the Panama Papers show that the sale of Enemalta and the Delimara power station “reek of corruption”, shadow minister for justice Jason Azzopardi said today.

What has been revealed has not been denied in the last 24 hours, and Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has no other option but to resign together with No-Portfolio Minister Konrad Mizzi and OPM chief of staff Keith Schembri, Dr Azzopardi added.

Addressing the media, Dr Azzopardi said that the same person who opened secret companies in Panama for Mizzi and Schembri, had opened a secret company in the British Virgin islands for Cheng Chen, who had negotiated the Enemalta and power station deal in the name of Shanghai Electric with PM Muscat, Mizzi and Schembri. The deal was worth €320 million.

Dr Azzopardi said that the revelations should spur the police to seize all assets of Schembri and Mizzi. “It is clear that what was done had been planned before the election, so much so that these proceedings started soon after when Mizzi was named minister and Schembri chief of staff.”

More than ever before, PM Muscat should publicly say who is the owner of Egrant Limited, a company named alongside those of Schembri, Mizzi and Cheng Chen.

“This is a textbook case of suspected money laundering," Dr Azzopardi insisted. 

Energy shadow minister Marthese Portelli said all that has been revealed in the last days exposes the real reasons why Enemalta and the power station were sold. “The PN has been saying all along that something was not right in the deal which has not been made public by the government.”

She said that Opposition Leader Simon Busuttil has been calling for an investigation into all contracts signed by Mizzi and Schembri for the past 10 months, including the Enemalta and power station deals. Nothing has been done, she said.

Dr Portelli asked whether Joseph Muscat knew that Mizzi and Schembri were involved in business.

The PN said it has been asking the government to publish all government contracts to show that similar pre-electoral deals were made in other major projects.  “These contracts have to see the light of day, to eliminate any suspicion. But besides the contracts themselves, we must also look at the very suspicious timings in the way things were done,” Dr Azzopardi said. 

Jason Azzopardi told journalists present that when the public stops trusting the legal institutions, it starts taking the law in their own hands, and this weakens our democracy.

He warned that this is a scandal on an international scale.