A report in the Australian Financial Review today revealed that embattled Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri planned to use their Panama companies to hold shares in “recycling and remote gaming companies.”
This contrasts with previous claims made by Energy and Health Minister Konrad Mizzi and the Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff Keith Schembri, who said that the companies were for the sole use of estate planning.
Mr Schembri earlier this week lashed out at other reports in the Australian Financial Review, which he said were "absolutely baseless".
Today's report also reveal fresh records which show that Mossack Fonseca approached six more banks about opening an account for Mr Schembri and Dr Mizzi’s companies, apart from the failed attempts in Dubai and Panama due to their status as Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs).
The records are part of a leak of 11.5 million documents obtained in a global media project led by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.
Eight weeks ago, Dr Mizzi and Mr Schembri were found to hold secretive offshore financial structures, which were later confirmed by the ICIJ.
According to the e-mail exchanges between Karl Cini of Nexia BT and Mossack Fonseca, several attempts were made to open up bank accounts for Dr Mizzi and Mr Schembri’s Panamanian accounts, and also reveal that they had a more diverse investment strategy in mind, beyond simple estate planning.
In trying to open up a bank account for the companies of Dr Mizzi and Mr Schembri, Mossack Fonseca pressed for more details as to the source of income. In response, Mr Cini wrote:
“In essence the Panama companies will be used as holding companies for operations that will be conducted in the sectors of: recycling, remote gaming.”
He continued by writing that in the area of recycling, where Mr Schembri already had business in prior to him becoming OPM Chief of Staff, entities would be set up in the jurisdictions of India, Dubai and other Gulf countries. Mr Cini wrote that the Panama companies would have a stake in these entities, rolling any profits made into the bank accounts.
“Go ahead to start the opening of the accounts for those two panama companies,” Mr Cini wrote to Mossack Fonseca on December 2. To date, whether these accounts were actually opened For Dr Mizzi and Mr Schembri’s Panama companies remains unclear. They have both denied that the companies hold any assets, liabilities or bank accounts.
Mr Mizzi said in a public statement last week that his New Zealand trust was set up for family reasons, and that he had told the prime minister of his intention to have a bank account to receive rent payments on his London property.
Full report