The ‘Panama Papers’ Committee will be meeting with a number of Maltese authorities in its quest to get to the bottom of Maltese individuals’ involvement in what has perhaps been the biggest financial scandal of the decade.
And there are several interesting names, companies and governmental bodies the committee will be meeting, or have asked to meet with, on its fact-finding mission to Malta next month.
Among the most interesting companies the Committee is expecting to meet with are Nexia BT, the architects of the questionable Panamanian and New Zealand financial structures belonging to Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri, and Mossack Fonseca Malta. Both companies are yet to confirm whether they will meet with the committee or not.
The Committee has also invited Deloitte Malta, Sparkasse Bank and EMD Advisory for meetings but so far only the latter has confirmed.
The Committee has also requested meetings with the Tax Compliance Unit, the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit and with Police Commissioner Lawrence Cutajar. These meetings have all been confirmed.
In the meantime, the committee will also seek to directly question a number of individuals, some of whom have been directly implicated in the Panama Papers.
These include the already-published names of the embattled former health and energy minister Konrad Mizzi and Office of the Prime Minister chief of staff Keith Schembri, both of whom have been directly implicated in the Panama Papers revelations.
Also on the list are former PN minister Ninu Zammit, who features in the Panama Papers after a company he owned - Fiveolive Services Inc - was incorporated by Mossack Fonseca on 23 February 2005 in the British Virgin Islands and was struck off on November 2015, a few months after The Malta Independent’s partnership with the ICIJ’s SwissLeaks project revealed his secret Swiss bank account.
Mary Ellen Mercieca, a secretary in the former rural affairs ministry, who was named in the Panama Papers as the beneficiary of Comerco, a British Virgin Isles company registered by Nexia Ltd has also been requested to meet with the Committee.
Although they have not been named in the Panama Papers PN MPs Tonio Fenech and Beppe Fenech Adami have also been brought into the fray. The PANA Committee deals with, apart from the Panama Papers, issue of money laundering, tax avoidance and tax evasion.
Dr Fenech Adami had served as the non-executive director of a company called Baltimore, which owned shares in a Malta registered company called the CapitalOne Investment Group, which had come under investigation by Dutch authorities over money laundering allegations.
Mr Fenech, meanwhile, had served as the director of Falcon Funds. That fund is reportedly being investigated by the Swedish Economic Crimes Authority over allegations by the Swedish Pensions Authority that it was unable to pay back a total of €247 million in savings to 22,000 Swedish investors.
Dr Fenech Adami and Mr Fenech today confirmed they will meet with the Committee but all of the others are still to confirm their attendance.
Mr Schembri and Dr Mizzi, when asked by this newspaper last August if they would appear before the Committee if requested to do so, both had identically replied, “I have not received any correspondence on the matter. If I receive correspondence I will reply accordingly".
The committee will also seek to meet with a number of journalists including Daphne Caruana Galizia, Ivan Camilleri, Saviour Balzan and Aleander Balzan. These have all confirmed their meetings, with the exception of Saviour Balzan.
The Committee is also expected to meet with a number of Members of Parliament.
The full list:
PANA COMMITTEE Delegation to Malta 20 February 2017 Preliminary Draft Programme
Nexia BT (invited)
Mossack Fonseca Malta (invited)
EMD Advisory (Pierre Mifsud) (confirmed)
Deloitte Malta (invited)
Sparkasse Bank (invited)
Journalists:
Daphne Caruana Galizia (recently named by Politico as one of the 28 movers and shakers of Europe for her work on Panama Papers) (confirmed)
Ivan Camilleri - journalist at the Times of Malta (confirmed)
Saviour Balzan, Malta Today editor (invited)
Aleander Balzan, Editor One News (confirmed)
Tax Compliance Unit (tbc) - The Pana Secretariat got the oral confirmation from the Maltese Permanent Representation that a meeting is confirmed. Only the timing needs to be determined.
Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit (FIAU)
Police Commissioner Lawrence Cutajar (confirmed)
Malta Financial Service Authority - Ms Marianne Scicluna [Director General] and Dr Anton Bartolo [Director Enforcement]
Meeting with members of National Parliament or meetings with politically exposed persons * (tbc)
Konrad Mizzi, Minister (invited)
Keith Schembri, Prime Minister’s chief of staff (invited)
Ninu Zammit, Former Minister of Energy (invited)
Mary Ellen Mercieca, secretary in rural affairs ministry (invited)
Beppe Fenech Adami, Former Minister of Internal Affairs (invited)
Tonio Fenech, Former Minister of Finance (invited)
Finance Minister Edward Scicluna (tbc) The Pana Secretariat got the oral confirmation from the Maltese Permanent Representation that a meeting is confirmed. Only the timing needs to be determined.
Meeting with Members of National Parliament* (tbc)