The dark cloud that is hovering over Malta and its financial services sector is a result of Prime Minister Joseph Muscat’s lack of action on situations that have put Malta in bad light, such as the Panama Papers scandal, Opposition Leader Simon Busuttil said today.

Answering questions during a press conference, Dr Busuttil said that a new Nationalist government will immediately embark on a serious programme to re-build Malta’s reputation. A high level expert group will be immediately appointed to address the “precarious situation” brought about by Joseph Muscat.

Dr Busuttil was referring to the Malta Files documents which went online last night, a damning report issued by a group of investigative journalists showing that Malta has become a "pirate base" for tax avoidance in the European Union. 

He said that the reports uploaded last night were incorrect and wrong, and insisted that Malta is “not a tax haven”, a label that causes so much damage to Malta. He pledged full support to the industry in this difficult moment, a time when Malta’s largest industry is that of corruption.

The reason why Malta is in the spotlight for the wrong reasons is that Joseph Muscat allowed Malta’s reputation to go to the dogs by not taking any action in the wake of issues involving his top people and which led to magisterial investigations, Dr Busuttil said.

He added that Finance Minister Edward Scicluna should also take responsibility for Malta's bad image in this sector. Once the Panama Papers scandal erupted, he should have gone to Joseph Muscat and told him to take action and, failing this, he should have resigned.