Prime Minister Joseph Muscat today said that those on the ‘Swiss Leaks’ list will be given a “fair hearing and “all the necessary steps in respect of the law” will be taken against them.

The Malta Independent on Sunday today revealed that former PN minister Ninu Zammit hid €3.2 million in a secret Swiss bank account.

Although the Prime Minister mentioned the Swiss Leaks in general during his speech today, no mention was made of the former PN minister’s tax evasion.

Mr Zammit repatriated his money under a tax amnesty given by this government.

In his speech today, Dr Muscat said responsibility must be borne by whoever is on the Swiss Leaks list.

The Prime Minister placed much of the blame on the previous administration for not seeking to obtain the Swiss Leaks list from the French authorities.

Dr Muscat said the first request to the French authorities for the list was made by the present government.

“This is another thing that the Opposition leader has to answer to, the day we have the list we will publicly say how we are going to act to make sure everyone is given a fair hearing, political responsibility has to be borne if politicians are on the list.”

“I personally spoke to French President Hollande, I told him that we want this list to see the Maltese persons on it. The contacts started between the competent authorities as there are clear laws in this regard. The politicians are now out of it,” Dr Muscat said.

The Malta Independent requested a comment from Dr Muscat through his communications team after the political activity regarding Mr Zammit’s tax evasion, but the Prime Minister refused.

Another former PN minister, Michael Falzon, was also found to have a secret Swiss bank account.

The government appointed Mr Falzon to the state oil procurement committee, but Mr Falzon suspended himself when his Swiss account became public knowledge. 

Dr Muscat said political responsibility must also be borne on allegations that former Gozo minister Giovanna Debono’s husband carried out free construction works for constituents and billed the ministry for the works.

Dr Muscat used the allegations, published by a local paper on the day the local council election campaign officially kicked off, to throw down the gauntlet of political responsibility to Opposition leader Simon Busuttil.

“There was a scandalous system in Gozo under the previous government, the minister’s husband carried out building works that the government paid for.

"I ask Mr Good Governance, when he got to know of this case, what did he go? This is a case on which political responsibility must be borne,” Dr Muscat said.

"Those in the know who thought the case would be forgotten with time were very much mistaken, Dr Muscat said.

“Case after case is going to be exposed, responsibility must be borne by those who knew of what was going on. The Opposition leader needs to walk the walk, he has to say what he knows.”

Turning to the Cafe Premier case, Dr Muscat said the Opposition has criticised the government for working with a person who gave donations to the PN.

In an interview this week, the former Cafe Premier co-owner Mario Camilleri said he gave donations to the PN prior to the 2013 general election.

Dr Muscat said “procedural lessons” have been learnt from the way in which the government bailed out the private entity.

“We are not arrogant. We acknowledge our mistakes and learn from them,” Dr Muscat said. 

The Prime Minister spoke about what has been achieved during Labour’s first two years in government.

He said the government was faced with a myriad of challenges, such as never-ending waiting lists, a new hospital that is smaller than St Luke’s hospital and a 130 out-of-stock medicines.

Dr Muscat said that new systems are being put in place in order to address the lack of space at Mater Dei hospital.

More is yet to come when it comes to tackling the waiting list problem, he promised.

On IVF, Dr Muscat said the government has helped to create new lives to the joy of many parents.

He made mention of the government’s “courageous” social reform,  while others “just watched from the sidelines and shunted minorities aside.”

Gay couples can now live their love just as any other person, Dr Muscat said, calling the right to civil unions introduced by this government “the biggest declaration of equality in the country’s recent history.”

The government has stepped up efforts to fight corruption he said, through the introduction of the whistleblower act and the removal of time barring in cases of political corruption.