The Malta Independent has exhausted all avenues in a bid to speak to former PN minister Michael Falzon over his past tax evasion, which is a criminal offence.

The untaxed €460,000, held in a secret Swiss bank account, has since been repatriated to Malta under a government amnesty.

This newsroom has been attempting to contact Mr Falzon since Monday, to no avail.

Given Mr Falzon’s refusal to answer The Malta Independent’s calls, this paper took a step actively encouraged by Mr Falzon when he was editor of the defunct tabloid paper The People, and waited outside his residence in an attempt to ask him some questions. The same exercise was carried out with another tax evading former minister Ninu Zammit, who was not at home when this paper visited.

On arriving yesterday morning and ringing the doorbell, we were informed that Mr Falzon was not in and would be back in the afternoon.

Hunkering down for the long haul, it was eventually Mr Falzon who contacted The Malta Independent in the form of a missed call.

 “I’m advising you not to enter into my property. I do not want to talk, and do not enter my property. I am warning you that you have no right to enter my property,” Mr Falzon said before hanging up.

Mr Falzon rolled up in his car a few minutes later.  The former minister, journalist and current MaltaToday columnist refused to even entertain the notion of answering any questions.

At no point did we try to enter Mr Falzon’s property. We merely waited outside his property as is normal journalistic practice when door stepping.

Falzon lied to PM, Parliament and tax payers

When he was a minister in the early 90s, Mr Falzon filed false asset declarations in Parliament, in the process lying to then Prime Minister Eddie Fenech Adami and every honest taxpayer who funded his ministerial pay.

Ministers and parliamentary secretaries are obliged to declare all their assets, but Mr Falzon consistently failed to do so. By his own admission, he also evaded tax, only ‘regularising’ his position under a government amnesty.

This paper would like to know whether Mr Falzon feels any remorse over his past deception and wrongdoing, and under which government his untaxed funds were repatriated to Malta.

The Malta Independent would like to know whether he feels his position in the Nationalist Party is still tenable, given his blatantly false asset declarations and his deception of then Prime Minister Eddie Fenech Adami.

Mr Falzon has recently rejoined the PN executive after falling out with former Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi. The former minister has also been appointed to the oil procurement committee, which oversees all state fuel purchase.

Mr Falzon has ‘suspended himself’ from both the PN and the oil procurement committee for the time being.

Both Opposition leader Simon Busuttil and former Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi have called on Mr Falzon as well as another former minister, Ninu Zammit, to publicly state where the income in their secret Swiss bank accounts came from.

Mr Zammit has yet to say how much he squirreled away in his Swiss account, away from the eyes of Maltese tax authorities.

Like his colleague, Mr Zammit filed false declarations in Parliament and to the Cabinet.

Mr Zammit repatriated his funds in 2014 after taking advantage of a government amnesty.

The Malta Independent is calling on Prime Minister Joseph Muscat to publish the list of all politicians – current and former – who have taken advantage of tax amnesties under his government.

Fellow MP had resigned in 1994 over tax evasion

A colleague of Mr Zammit and Falzon had resigned in 1994 over an undeclared account in the United Kingdom, The Times of Malta reported yesterday.

Both Mr Zammit and Mr Falzon were ministers at the time – with their own hidden accounts- when backbencher Lino Gauci Borda took the fall for his undeclared account.

Dr Borda resigned four days after the story broke, at a time when the government was introducing Value Added Tax.

Home affairs minister directs ‘Swiss leaks’ question to tax authorities

Home Affairs Minister Carmelo Abela told Parliament on Monday that the police are not investigating any information that has been published thus far pertaining to the ‘Swiss leaks.’

PN MP Kristy Debono tabled the question in Parliament last Tuesday.

In reply, Mr Abela said the tax authorities lead investigations in cases involving tax evasion. He directed Ms Debono to send her questions to relevant Authority.