Opposition Leader Simon Busuttil this evening appealed to both sides of the House to seize the opportunity presented by Monday's vote of no confidence in the government 'to make their voices heard' and to put the national interest first.

On Monday the House will debate a motion of no confidence in the government presented by the Opposition in the wake of the Panamagate scandal.

Addressing a press conference on the motion to be debated in a marathon session on Monday, Dr Busuttil said that if the motion passes on Monday, this does not mean that there will automatically be another general election as a result. The PL still have a further two years and they can still go on and govern the country, according to Dr Busuttil.

The point which the opposition is insisting on is that the 'damage' done "will not only be solved at this point, by the resignation of Mizzi and Schembri, but by the resignation of Muscat." It was said that the damage to the country is no longer a risk, but a reality.

Dr Busuttil said that the statements which Minister for Energy and Health, Konrad Mizzi and Chief of Staff of the Office of the Prime Minister, Keith Schembri, are not to be believed. In fact, Dr Busuttil went so far as to say that the statements are direct opposites of the facts and show that both men are clearly in a state of severe panic.

"We need to remind everyone why we are doing it over the entire government, not simply Minister Mizzi. Joseph Muscat defended [Dr Mizzi and Mr Schembri] for an entire seven weeks, in fact he apparently found out before the media, and he still defended both of them. To the point that when journalists asked the Prime Minister if Mr Schembri too had a company, Dr Muscat said 'be careful, you might get a libel suit'. This led to the suspicion that even the Prime Minister has his own company. Either that, or he has no moral authority to remove them."

It was also pointed out that the Prime Minister, even if not in direct cohorts with Dr Mizzi and Mr Schembri, is still directly responsible for the two retaining their political posts weeks after the scandal erupted.

"It is not only obvious that they should have resigned a long time ago, but now the question stands as to whether Joseph Muscat is to be trusted with running the country any more. The response is, undoubtedly, no."

The recent revelations that the secret companies in Panama, which both the Minister and the Chief of Staff were found out to have opened a number of weeks ago, were opened a mere five days after the PL won the general election in 2013.

It was said, by the Minister that the companies were opened for management consultancy and brokerage, but now the story has changed and both the Dr Mizzi and Mr Schembri are saying that the companies will be used for waste recycling and remote gaming. Dr Busuttil said that "the only recycling which comes to mind, is the recycling of money."

It was also found out that Dr Mizzi and Mr Schembri tried to open bank accounts for their companies in at least seven countries. This is contrary to what they said about not wanting to open accounts. Annual deposits of around 1mil are needed to maintain these kinds of accounts. It was made apparent in the international media that the only reason why they couldn't open the accounts is because they were found to be Politically Exposed People.

The opposition leader alleged that independent institutions are no longer doing their job, as proven by the police force not investigating the OPM. The reputation of our country on a global scale and the effects on the financial sector has already been made apparent. The potential effects are also being felt on the 'gaming industry', one which is a thriving industry and it would be a disaster if they were also hit by this scandal.

Opposition leader Simon Busuttil said today that the latest revelations on the Panama Papers were shocking and made the resignation or dismissal of Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri even more urgent in order to stop the harm being done to Malta.

New revelations from the Panama Papers in the media today had showed that Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi and the Prime Minister's chief of staff Keith Schembri had allegedly attempted to open bank accounts for their Panamanian companies at six different institutions.

In a Department of Information statement and a Twitter post, both issued shortly after the press conference, Dr Mizzi said he will be taking libel action against Dr Busuttil over his "false accusations that were repeated today and which, he said have been publicly denied. 

Dr Busuttil replied to Minister Mizzi's Tweet with:

In a statement by the PL later this evening, the PN press conference was called "hysterics inspired by a thirst for power at any cost." Echoing Dr Mizzi's Tweet, the PL said that Dr Busuttil's only weapons are "lies, obscene and personal attacks and a strategy aiming at causing instability in Malta."

Opposition has backtracked - PM

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said yesterday evening that he acts on facts and not the allegations of the Opposition Leader Simon Busuttil.

Dr Muscat also accused Dr Busuttil of having backtracked on his accusations, saying that Dr Busuttil was now saying that there was "suspected" corruption as opposed to the outright accusations he had been previously making.

Dr Muscat said he was in the process of examining the facts and said he was confident that the government would emerge from next week's vote of confidence on the government unscathed.