Watching last Monday’s US Presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, Maltese viewers could be easily forgiven for having been reminded of our very own Minister Konrad Mizzi.
Both politicians, it appears, are hiding behind audits before disclosing their full financial details.
The circumstances are, admittedly, somewhat different. Mr Trump claims that he cannot release his tax returns because he is currently under audit by the Internal Revenue Service, the American counterpart of the Maltese Inland Revenue Department.
In the US, every presidential candidate for the last 40-odd years has released their tax returns, not as a legal obligation but, rather, as a gesture of goodwill for voters. Such an exercise is done to prove that a presidential candidate has nothing to hide and that he or she is not beholden to anyone.
Mr Trump’s excuse, however, is being given very little quarter by Clinton and her campaign team, and rightly so. He clearly has something to hide, just as Dr Mizzi seems to have something to hide - undoubtedly not as much as Mr Trump, but the fact that Dr Mizzi’s audits have been such a long time coming certainly raises plenty of warranted suspicions.
Maltese MPs’ actual tax returns are available upon request to the Speaker of the House of Representatives by an MP or a newspaper editor. This exercise has been done as regards Dr Mizzi and a slew of other politicians over recent years. This newspaper had carried out such an exercise when the SwissLeaks scandal had broken, which led to a damning indictment against former Nationalist MPs Michael Falzon and Ninu Zammit.
We will do so again when circumstances call for such action.
As for Dr Mizzi’s pending audits – one which he requested to be carried out by Malta’s Tax Commissioner and another that was supposedly commissioned to a reputable international company – these appear to be taking an inordinate amount of time.
The problem is that he had promised back in February to have the audits carried out. That was some seven and a half months ago but, so far, those audits have not seen the light of day.
Speaking yesterday, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat insisted that the fact that the audits are taking so long evidences the fact that things are being taken seriously and that they are being done properly.
“These things take time,” Dr Muscat said, adding, “What I am sure of is that the report will be published once it is completed. If anything, the fact that it is taking long shows that matters are being taken seriously.”
The problem is that it is this excuse that cannot be taken seriously.
The country cannot be expected to wait for months on end for the results of audits being performed on Dr Mizzi’s affairs to be published, audits that, truth be told, will never be able to ascertain with any degree of certainty what the real situation is. With every passing week, the government’s credibility on the Panama Papers debacle slips further down the drain.
It is perfectly plausible that in the government’s view, the nation should be expected to wait, perhaps until after the next general election. Those promises of audits were perhaps made capriciously in an attempt to put out the raging fire that broke out at the first glimpses the public had of the Panama Papers. It is also perfectly plausible that the promises were made with the hope that the public would simply forget about them, given time.
That will simply not happen. The public may forget, that is the public’s prerogative, but the media will not forget, and rest assured that we will not put the matter to rest until the promised audits are published.
The other similarity between Mr Trump and Dr Mizzi to the casual observer: the somewhat maniacal grin both men give in the face of any adversity or criticism.