Nexia BT managing Partner Brian Tonna and blogger Daphne Caruana Galizia have exchanged heated words in emails this afternoon after Mrs Caruana Galizia published a blog on her site alleging that Mr Tonna bought property in London.

Mr Tonna sent an email addressed to Mrs Caruana Galizia, and copied to the media, in which he referred to the blog “in which you assert that I acquired a property in London for ₤17m (20 million euros) through Willerby Trade Inc.”

“Your assertion is a complete and blatant fabrication. For the record, I have never acquired, directly or indirectly, any immovable property in London,” Mr Tonna said, saying that he is reserving his rights.

Mrs Caruana Galizia was quick to reply, challenging Mr Tonna to “publish the full and undoctored statements for Willerby Trade Inc's account at Pilatus Bank. You are the ultimate beneficial owner of that British Virgin Islands company, with your identity hidden behind Mossack Fonseca nominees,” she wrote in her statement, also copied to the media.

In a second email sent at 3pm, again addressed to Mrs Caruana Galizia, Mr Tonna again referred to "your central allegation earlier this morning (was) that I acquired a mansion in London for €17m through Willerby Trade Inc. I denied your allegation clarifying, for good measure, that I haven’t acquired any property in London, directly or indirectly. It is up to you to prove otherwise, such as by producing a contract of acquisition by Willerby.

"For the record, I have never denied owning Willerby Trade Inc. I do however deny the assertions in your latest post that Willerby Trade Inc. was set-up for money-laundering purposes and to conceal profits from the local authorities. I further deny ever having used any faked documents or doctored PDFs. Once again, it is up to you to prove what you assert," Mr Tonna said.

“So that would be why he used a complicated and inpenetrable system of Mossack Fonseca nominees in Panama to hide his ownership of the company, and set it up in the British Virgin Islands rather than Malta in his own name,” Caruana Galizia replied.

“Mr Tonna said he has never used Willerby Trade Inc for tax evasion and money laundering. Perhaps he would like to tell us which legitimate purposes he used it for, given that it was designed for complete secrecy, was not declared to the authorities in Malta and was acquired three months after Labour won the general election in 2013.”

Keith Schembri reacts

OPM Chief of Staff Keith Schembri has also joined the fray, after Mrs Caruana Galizia said, in another blog post, that he and Konrad Mizzi had put their companies in liquidation today. 

In a statement issued by the DOI he said: "It is evident that Daphne Caruana Galizia and Simon Busuttil are adamant to continue weaving their web of lies in a very clear attempt to deviate attention from the sheer disarray in which the Nationalist Party finds itself. Five days have passed since Simon Busuttil and Daphne Caruana Galizia alleged that any company of the OPM Chief of Staff was used to siphon millions in funds of Azerbaijani origin. To date, and despite all the vitriol, Simon Busuttil and Daphne Caruana Galizia have failed to substantiate any of their claims. Neither has Daphne Caruana Galizia acceded to the simple and fair request that the libel proceedings instituted by the Chief of Staff be heard with urgency. If Simon Busuttil and Daphne Caruana Galizia truly believe in their battle cry, they would surely not attempt to serialise such an important matter.

Their deceit is further brought to bear by today’s fresh allegations that he has just placed Tillgate Inc into ‘emergency’ liquidation. The Chief of Staff put the company into liquidation on the 22nd of January, 2017."