The European Parliament’s Mission to Malta met with urgency this morning, Greens MEP Sven Giegold said, following the recent revelations on the investigations into the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia and fresh allegations on Minister Konrad Mizzi and OPM chief of staff Keith Schembri.

In a statement titled ‘Malta: European Parliament will respond forcefully,’ Giegold said that the MEPs who form part of the mission decided to write to the new head of Europol, for a meeting in order to promote their involvement in the investigations.

In addition, they have also asked for a meeting “with our own Conference of Presidents with a view to a debate the situation with the EU Commission and adopt a plenary resolution; to ask for an urgency meeting (next week) with Commission Vice-President Frans Timmermans to discuss the new revelations and the findings of our mission; to write to the Maltese Parliament and to ask for a meeting with official authorities in Malta.”

"The situation in Malta is unbearable. The new revelations must lead to drastic changes to counter the general perception of corruption and a
weakening of the rule of law. Minister Mizzi and Keith Schembri have to step down or be dismissed. The programme for the sale of passports must be suspended immediately. The European Parliament should use allits means to ensure that, this time, concrete action is taken. The European Commission has to overcome its light touch policy on the rule of law problems in Malta and urgently act as the guardian of European values."

Nationalist MEP David Casa said that in view of the prevailing situation, the EP mission to Malta will be returning in the coming days.

A consortium of 18 news organisations is pursuing stories that had been followed by slain journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, and will be publishing the work. The news organisations include the New York Times, The Guardian, and Süddeutsche Zeitung, the newspaper behind the Panama Papers revelations. The project (dubbed the Daphne Project) was organised by an investigative non-profit organisation called Forbidden Stories.

In addition, last night it was revealed that 17 Black was listed as the ‘Main Client’ and ‘Possible Payer/Sender’ of Tillgate and Hearnville, the offshore Panamian companies owned by OPM Chief of Staff Keith Schembri and Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi, leaked emails obtained by German paper Süddeutsche Zeitung, and published by Times of Malta as part of the Daphne Project show.

The news reports allege that investigators from the FIAU had found that 17 Black received a payment totalling $1.4 million (€1.1 million) from a Seychelles company called Mayor Trans (which reports say is owned by an Azerbaijani national).

Mizzi and Schembri deny the claims.