Minister Evarist Bartolo said this morning that if he were Konrad Mizzi, he would take the advice given by former Prime Minister Alfred Sant - and resign.

Speaking to The Malta Independent, Mr Bartolo said that he also would never have opened a company in Panama. "Personally, as a politician, I have to shoulder responsibility and not put it on someone else's shoulder."

The Labour Party is built on justice and fiscal morality and "I understand Dr Sant's sentiment completely," he said.

"It is not fair that the government keeps a close eye on families to pay everything they own in taxes while ignoring the important people. It shouldn't be the case where we have a law for the gods and another for the animals," he said. "Are we animals?" he asked.

He said that if it were him, the first thing that he would not have done was to get involved with Panama in the first place. 

Minister Bartolo said that with the same principle that a person is not to be allowed to hide money in other countries, we have to ensure that even locally, we do not introduce mechanism to hide money on our own shores, referring to the PN's loan scheme.

The Minister spoke after a press conference in which he announced two consultation documents on employment.

Dr Sant yesterday said that Dr Mizzi should do the honourable thing and resign in the wake of the Panama Papers revelation. He said that it is wrong to place the burden of such a decision on the Prime Minister.

Last week, Mr Bartolo was among several veteran MPs who, during a parliamentary group, had urged Konrad Mizzi to resign. Dr Mizzi said that he leaves everything in the hands of the Prime Minister.