Opposition Leader Simon Busuttil said this evening in Parliament that the Panama scandal is a symptom not a cause, and that the cause of this corruption is actually Prime Minister Joseph Muscat.

Dr Busuttil’s speech is the last of a marathon Parliament session debating a motion of no confidence in Dr Muscat’s government as a result of the Panama scandal. The motion, which was later defeated, referred to the revelations that Energy and Health Minister Konrad Mizzi and the Prime Minister’s chief of staff Keith Schembri concurrently own a trust and a company in New Zealand and the financially secretive jurisdiction of Panama respectively.

“My weapon is the truth, and with this weapon I know I will win. Whether it is today, tomorrow or whenever, eventually the truth wins. This side of the House is the side of the people, the side who has given a voice to the people. If it were not for us, and independent MPs then the voice of the people would not be heard.

“Prime Minister, you can run but you cannot hide.”

He slammed Dr Muscat for not directly addressing the issue in his address, and said that “the government is in denial.”

“Am I making a mistake? Is Konrad Mizzi not present? Maybe he has hopped on a flight to Panama,” he said.

He spoke about how no decisions are taken by the government without the approval of Mr Schembri. “Everybody knows that Keith Schembri created the electoral manifesto,” he said.

Dr Busuttil cast doubt on Dr Muscat’s credibility when it is well-known that the embattled Mr Schembri who is working behind the scenes.

Referring to the revelations published in the Australian Financial Review that Dr Mizzi and Mr Schembri gave a basis as the source of income for opening up an offshore bank account tied to the Panama company as “recycling and remote gaming.” He also spoke about other explanations provided to offshore banks as “management consultancy and brokerage” for the reason for having a bank account. Dr Busuttil said that as an acting minister, brokerage can only mean bribery.

He spoke about the discovery that Dr Mizzi and Mr Schembri, through the services of Mossack Fonseca, had attempted to open up bank accounts in secretive jurisdiction with no less than eight banks, but were refused because of their status as Politically Exposed Persons. One particular bank had asked for a floating balance of €1 million, and then reduced this to €350,000, which Karl Cini of Nexia BT, allegedly on behalf of the embattled politicians, had found acceptable.

Dr Busuttil questioned who the third company in Panama belongs to, as it was registered on the same day as Dr Mizzi and Mr Schembri’s. He slammed the Prime Minister for threatening journalists with libel proceedings when they asked certain questions.

He appealed to the Labour MPs to vote in the interest of the country, and with the motion Dr Busuttil presented. “I know that many of you are genuinely people of integrity, so do the right thing,” he said.

Dr Busuttil appealed individually to a number of ministers who, he said, were people of integrity and should not be seen to be supporting a goverment of corruption. He mentioned in particular Finance Minister Edward Scicluna, Environment Minister Leo Bricnat, Foreign Minister George Vella and deputy Prime Minister Louis Grech. 

The government's corruption, he said, started when the Labour Party was still in Opposition. On the LNG power station deal, Dr Busuttil said that this was concocted prior to the last election. “We had known of this deal because the same people came to our door with the same proposal before the election. We sent them packing,” he said, while MPs from the other side of the House animatedly expressed their disbelief.

The session became heated as Dr Busuttil rebuffed the Prime Minister’s claim that the previous administration had never published the Arriva contract. A cross debate sparked off between an agitated Transport Minister Joe Mizzi and the Opposition Leader.

“People expected a lot from the unprecedented levels of trust placed in Dr Muscat. It is incredible that he has managed to chip away at the people’s trust at such a rate in just three years in government.

Making reference to the front page stories published on The Malta Independent and the Times of Malta yesterday, Dr Busuttil illustrated how day after day new scandals are emerging.

He made reference to a number of scandals which have plagued the current government, such as the Australia Hall saga, the €3 million government expropriation deal to Marco Gaffarena, the secret Azerbaijan trip, Cafe Premier, and the petrol station permit given to Mr Gaffarena.

“They [Labour government] represents nothing,” Dr Busuttil said, adding that they have lost all their genuine values.

Referring to an interview in which Speaker of the House Anglu Farrugia took part in, Dr Busuttil quoted him saying “even though I was always honest in politics, there are some people who do not always take honest decisions.” Dr Busuttil said that this is the biggest insult one can level against the Labour Party Leader.

Earlier, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat began his address by requesting a few moments of silence for those 400 migrants who lost their lives at sea trying to reach Europe.

He listed the positive work being carried out by the government, and then proceeded to highlight how the Nationalist Party has failed to take positions on a number of important issues especially in the area of civil liberties.

Dr Muscat stressed the PN’s cedoli loan scheme flies in the face of the party financing law which was passed in the name of transparency.

The first real reduction in poverty rates has been experienced thanks to the constant work of Cabinet members, he said.

Making reference to Enemalta, which was partly sold to Shanghai Electrics in a bid bring investment and increased efficiency to the power station, Dr Muscat said that not one person has lost their job – despite what was said about the deal.

“By the end of the year we will be publishing all contracts in the leading Ministries, in the name of transparency. This government has brought many benefits, and has made mistakes – which I will be discussing. The opposition, however, has gone from bad to worse,” he said.

Dr Muscat said that under the previous government, which was embroiled in a number of troubling scandals, Dr Busuttil did not speak out about corruption. He said that this means that he is corrupt according to the famous quote: ‘Those who do not fight corruption are corrupt themselves.”

He also made reference to the Giovanna Debono works-for-votes scandal which he said the PN, for some reason, continue to defend.

PN MP Claudio Grech had represented the government in the Smart City negotiations only to become CEO of Smart City himself. "Is that correctness? Is that ethical?"

Dr Muscat said that, if he wanted to be credible, Simon Busuttil should announce, this evening, that he will publish the names of those who give out loans to the PN.

The PN had done many good things but it had also done a lot of wrongs and the government did not want to copy that.

The Labour Party, Dr Muscat joked, has a Ph.D. in being in Opposition. Dr Busuttil has to understand that the government accepted scrutiny but the government would continue working to show that the country would keep moving forward. 

In the course of his address, Fr Muscat never made any direct reference to the Panama Papers scandal.