Former Opposition leader Simon Busuttil has filed a court application arguing that

Malta’s institutions had “flagrantly and consistently” failed to act against Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri over the three-year period since the Panama Papers leak. 

Busuttil added that the ‘institutional paralysis’ over the Panama Papers scandal has breached EU laws. 

In a 77-page application addressed to the duty magistrate, Busuttil repeats his call for an investigation into the allegations arising from the leaked documents.

Busuttil says the country’s institutions had failed to act against the two trusted government officials over a three-year period, after the Panama Papers leak revealed they had opened secretive offshore structures. He argues that this constitutes a breach of the Treaty of the European Union and the EU Charter on Fundamental Human Rights. 

The application states that there is incontrovertible evidence that the subject matter of the crimes it alleges still exists in the shape of paper trails, electronic correspondence which is found on computers and servers in several offices in Malta. Other documents include Know Your Client (KYC) forms relating to Konrad Mizzi’s and Keith Schembri’s New Zealand trusts, copies of bearer certificates for Hearnville and Egrant Inc and a report by the FIAU into Mizzi, concluding that there are reasonable grounds to suspect that he committed or attempted to carry out money laundering.

The former PN leader argues that the failure by various institutions to act against the Prime Minister’s chief of staff, Keith Schembri, and Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi breached domestic law as well as the EU’s anti-money laundering directive and treaties.

Busuttil placed himself at the disposal of the Inquiring magistrate to pass on whatever information is deemed necessary under oath.