Nationalist MPs Beppe Fenech Adami and Tonio Fenech believe that a request for them to appear before the European Parliament’s Panama Papers committee was made by the Labour Party, adding that they will gladly accept such a request, if it is made.
In a statement following the publication of a story in The Malta Independent that they could be asked to answer questions made by the PANA committee that will be in Malta next month, the two MPs said that they have not received any official request as yet.
But, if this request arrives, “we will be making ourselves available to answer any questions. No doubt, we cannot be asked about secret companies in Panama because we do not have any.”
It is evident, Dr Fenech Adami and Mr Fenech said, that the request was submitted by the Labour Party in its panic to being the PN into the picture, in the wake of the accusations being made against the Castille clique.
If asked to testify, we will do so to explain how in Malta there are three individuals who opened secret companies in Panama in which commissions up to one million euros per year are deposited. Two of these officials are No Portfolio Minister Konrad Mizzi and OPM chief of staff Keith Schembri, and the people are now expecting the Prime Minister to announce who the owner of the third company is.
Today’s story shows the low levels reached by the “most corrupt government” in Malta’s history, the PN said.
A statement was also issued by the European People's Party, of which the PN is a member.
Following reports that purport to name persons who have been invited to appear in front of the European Parliament’s Committee of Inquiry on the Panama Papers during its visit to Malta, the PN Delegation within the European Parliament stated the folliwng:
“We are setting the record straight and underline that there has been no decision taken with regard to any person who may or may not be invited to speak to the Committee.
"Labour is lobbying to include Tonio Fenech and Beppe Fenech Adami in the list of invitees. These efforts constitute nothing more than a feeble attempt to distract attention from Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri who were caught opening secret companies in which they planned to deposit millions.
"No amount of political games will dilute the fact that Malta’s Minister Konrad Mizzi and the Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff, Keith Schembri, continue to defy people’s anger and refuse to take responsibility for their actions.
"This is a cynical ploy in a feeble attempt to equate the Opposition with Minister Konrad Mizzi, when the situation is incomparable. It is typical of this Government’s scorched earth policy of defending Minister Konrad Mizzi at all costs, by trying to create a situation where everyone involved in politics in Malta is as bad as him. They are not.
"The PN underlines that it has always and will always cooperate with the PANA Committee and with anyone determined to expose the corruption engulfing Joseph Muscat’s administration.”