The Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit was not able to corroborate the amount of funds held by Minister Konrad Mizzi as declared in his ministerial declaration of assets, noting that they had found quite a bit less in his actual bank accounts than what had been declared, according to extracts of an FIAU report seen by The Malta Independent on Sunday.

Contacted on Friday, Konrad Mizzi said he stands by the amount declared but refused to answer any other questions.

This newsroom has obtained extracts of an FIAU report that clearly demonstrated the need for police action to be taken against Mizzi. A number of magisterial inquiries have been launched on the basis of the FIAU reports that were leaked, and which have been published by this newsroom, following police inaction. Nationalist MEP David Casa has presented a report dealing with Konrad Mizzi to a magistrate.

Now tourism minister, Konrad Mizzi was the minister in charge of energy and health in the last legislature, and spearheaded a number of highly controversial deals – including the Electrogas Delimara power station deal and the Vitals Global Healthcare deal.

He was also at the heart of the local angle of the Panama Papers scandal, where he was found to have acquired a company in the secretive jurisdiction of Panama. Since then, suspicions about the minister and his deals have grown, with new revelations and accusations having come to light recently through the Daphne Project.

In the FIAU documents seen by this newsroom, the money-laundering watchdog stated that it could not corroborate Mizzi’s declarations of assets in which he declared that his bank accounts held over €300,000.

The FIAU, however, found fewer funds in his accounts than the amount he had declared. The FIAU notes that, in his 2014 declaration of assets, Mizzi declared €310,000 in bank deposits, but the FIAU states that its analysis identified deposits totalling just €92,000, held in joint accounts with his wife Sai Mizzi.

The documents note that the FIAU, through various sources of information, found that he had €92,198 in deposits as at 27 February 2017 (held in joint names). The documents also indicate that an analysis of the two HSBC bank accounts held in the names of both Mizzis was conducted, covering the years between 2010 and 2016. An analysis was also conducted on their BOV joint accounts covering the years 2013 to 2017.

Taking the FIAU information as being complete and correct, gives rise to certain questions as to why the minister would declare more funds than he actually possessed at the time. In his 2017 declaration of assets, Mizzi declared over €300,000 in deposits.

 

Mizzi’s response

This newsroom contacted Mizzi, asking specific questions in order for the minister to be able to explain the curious situation.

He was asked why he had declared €300,000 when he had closer to €90,000, for the number of bank accounts he held in 2014 and 2015 and to identify which were owned by him solely, or by his wife, and whether he or his wife hold bank accounts abroad and if yes, where and when were they opened.

While this newsroom asked the minister to respond separately to each question, thereby allowing him to explain in detail, his aide came back with the one line reply of: “Minister Mizzi stands by his declaration of assets. Your assumptions are incorrect.”

This newsroom sent a follow-up question, asking whether the minister, a politically exposed person, could provide evidence regarding the amount of funds he holds in banks by, for example, showing this newsroom bank statements.

No response had been received by the time the article was sent to print.

According to the documents seen by this newspaper, the FIAU had found that Mizzi and his wife, Sai (above), had opened an HSBC account in 2001 and that, as at 27 February 2017, it held €38,502. They held another account, also opened in 2001, which held around €5 as at the aforementioned date. These were the two HSBC accounts on which the analysis from 2010 to 2016 was carried out.

Konrad Mizzi also had two HSBC credit cards, one opened in May 2013 – which had a balance of €6,100 in debit and a limit of €12,000. The other, opened in 2005, had €10 in debit and a limit of €15,000. Both these amounts were taken as at 27 February 2017.

It was also observed that Mizzi had held a safety deposit box.

The FIAU also noted that Sai Mizzi Liang held three other accounts with HSBC Bank Malta, and the documents noted that they had barely been used since 2010.

With regard to BOV, as at 2 March 2017, the FIAU noted a savings account with €37,035 opened in June 2013, a current account with €16,655 opened on the same day and a €312,908 home loan. These were the joint accounts that were included in the analysis from 2013 to 2017.

The report also highlights the fact that Minister Mizzi also holds a Life Policy issued by Mapfre.

The FIAU, according to the documents, noted that on the basis of further checks by the Authority, the minister did not hold any other accounts in Malta other than the ones they took into consideration. They noted that the information obtained does not reflect the information provided in Mizzi’s 2014 and 2015 declarations of assets, as the information did not corroborate his claims of having bank deposits in excess of €300,000 in both declarations.

In 2017, the most recent declaration of assets, Konrad Mizzi declared that he had €328,502 in deposits under the section ‘funds deposited in commercial banks’.

The documents read that the costs associated with setting up a structure involving a Panamanian company which was held under trust in New Zealand are not justified when one takes into consideration that Mizzi’s declaration of assets in 2014 consisted of the London property with a potential rental value according to the documents of £20,000 per year, a Sliema apartment which has an outstanding loan which the documents say means that it cannot be placed under trust, bank deposits of €310,000 – which the document notes the FIAU failed to corroborate – and 4,000 shares in Malta International Airport, of which the FIAU noted that the dividends being paid out is minimal.

 

Evidence linking Mizzi to criminal activity ‘overwhelming’

PN MEP David Casa, who has been leading the charge at European parliamentary level regarding the lack of the rule of law in Malta, told this newsroom yesterday: “The evidence linking Konrad Mizzi to criminal activity has been overwhelming ever since the Panama Papers leak in 2016. The recent revelations indicate that not only was corruption and money-laundering planned but that it occurred and that there is a strong possibility it is ongoing. Konrad Mizzi has lied to Parliament, EU institutions and the press and has betrayed the trust of the Maltese people.”