Minister Konrad Mizzi has refused to send a copy of his entire document which shows that he ticked ‘estate planning’ in the questionnaire submitted by Nexia BT, apparently concerning the establishment of his New Zealand Trust, stating that “at this point I (Mizzi) have been advised to reserve all my rights at law in view of the court procedures which will be filed on Monday”.
Earlier today, The Times published an article titled ‘No mention of estate planning in Mizzi trust’.
The document published by the newspaper available through the Panama Papers came from a trust due diligence questionnaire form. In the form available through the Panama Papers, the box “estate planning generally”, under the heading “Objectives for which Trust/Settlement is to be established” is not ticked. This document was part of an email sent by Mossack Fonseca to Bentleys Chartered Accountants, a New Zealand accounting firm that owns the trustee company Orion Trust, which in turn handles Dr Mizzi’s Rotorua Trust.
The Times reported that “a due diligence questionnaire submitted on behalf of Dr Mizzi by his financial advisers, Nexia BT, indicated the objectives of the trust as being ‘asset protection’, ‘confidentiality and privacy’ and ‘family succession planning’”.
However the Minister published a response earlier today, stating that “that The Times of Malta lied on this matter, given that the ‘estate planning generally category’ was ticked in the questionnaire submitted by Nexia BT”, and published extracted pages from a document showing otherwise.
The document published by the newspaper was sent by Mossack Fonseca to Bentleys and has also been seen by this newspaper.
The Minister, in his press release, attached a single page from a document, which appears to be different to that in the Panama Papers. Minister Mizzi’s document, which he says is the form submitted by Nexia BT, had the answers hand written, while the Panama Papers document, sent by Mossack Fonseca to Bentleys was typed. In addition, the Panama Papers document has Orion Trust (New Zealand) Limited listed under the Names of Trustees, however in the document presented by Dr Mizzi, Mossack Fonseca is listed.
The Minister, in his press release, said: "The Times of Malta later published on its online news portal a form printed on a “Bentleys Chartered Accountants” letter head which apparently does not include a ticked ‘estate planning generally’ box. This confirms that the Times of Malta lied when it stated that the unticked box was found in a due diligence questionnaire submitted by Dr Mizzi’s financial advisors Nexia BT".
“The Nexia BT questionnaire is consistent with Dr Mizzi’s past statements that the Rotorua Trust and related structure were solely intended as a family trust for assets and investments,” the press release read.
While refusing to send a copy of the full document from which the extracts he presented were taken to this newsroom, the Minister said: “I made a statement that The Times of Malta has lied about this matter and I am prepared to submit all evidence to prove this in court,” he said.
Dr Mizzi had originally said that his New Zealand Trust was meant to be ‘populated with his assets’.
The Malta Independent is a partner alongside the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung. Today’s statement in the Times of Malta that in Konrad Mizzi’s due diligence questionnaire submitted by Nexia the estate planning category was not listed and ticked is an outright lie, the minister said today.The Times said Mizzi did not list estate planning as the reason for setting up his New Zealand trust. Pictured, Konrad Mizzi's London house.
Minister Mizzi's press statement
The Times of Malta earlier stated that “A due diligence questionnaire submitted on behalf of Dr Mizzi by his financial advisers, Nexia BT, indicated the objectives of the trust as being ‘asset protection’, ‘confidentiality and privacy’ and ‘family succession planning’. It added that “The box marked ‘estate planning generally’ – the first option on the list – was left unticked.”
In reply Minister Konrad Mizzi today stated that the Times of Malta lied on this matter, given that the ‘estate planning generally category’ was ticked in the questionnaire submitted by Nexia BT.
Dr Mizzi is hereby publishing documentary evidence with this Press Release to this effect.
The Times of Malta later published on its online news portal a form printed on a “Bentleys Chartered Accountants” letter head which apparently does not include a ticked ‘estate planning generally’ box. This confirms that the Times of Malta lied when it stated that the unticked box was found in a due diligence questionnaire submitted by Dr Mizzi’s financial advisors Nexia BT.
In fact, the form submitted by Nexia BT does clearly include the ticked box as evidenced by the document being published with this statement. The Nexia BT questionnaire is consistent with Dr Mizzi’s past statements that the Rotorua Trust and related structure were solely intended as a family trust for assets and investments.
The Times of Malta falsely asserted that Dr Mizzi had not indicated ‘estate planning generally’ as an objective for the establishment of the New Zealand trust. The Times of Malta chose to create confusion by misquoting and falsely attributing authorship of documents found in the Panama Papers.
Dr Mizzi stressed that this latest lie by the Times of Malta, cannot be merely dismissed as amateurish journalism, but must be considered as part of a wider coordinated attack across multiple channels aimed at character assassination.
"Today’s story seems to be another attempt to invent new angles, which clearly do not exist. It is evident that this will continue and in light of the coordinated attack across multiple channels aimed at character assassination. Different sources and websites will continue to rehash flawed and untrue stories.
"It is comical that over the past weeks so many contradictory and false motivations were presented for the Trust set-up which included inexistent commissions, monies from Azerbaijan, millions allegedly earned before entering politics, benefits from GASOL share transfer, alleged commissions from the agreement with Shanghai Electric Power among many others.
"This strategy demonstrates that a character assassination campaign directed at myself is being pursued by various quarters, including the Nationalist Party, so as to dampen the results being obtained by this Government in various fields.
"This seems to be the only way left for the PN after that the Government has achieved excellent results in many sectors such as energy, health, civil liberties and employment.
"I am committed to work harder than ever to accelerate delivery of projects and initiatives for the benefit of all,” Dr Mizzi said.
Times of Malta reacts
Times of Malta said that document sent to the media by Dr Mizzi states that Mossack Fonseca are the trustees.
Previous documents presented by Dr Mizzi as well as documents in the Panama Papers show that the trustees are Orion Trust in New Zealand.
Dr Mizzi himself had presented a document showing as much when news first broke about his offshore setup - see image below.
Lies 'a threat to democracy' - PN
In a statement the Nationalist Party said the documents published by the Times confirmed beyond any doubt that Konrad Mizzi had lied when he claimed that he opened the trust for estate planning.
Worse still, the documents show that Mizzi had no intention to declare the trust or have it audited.
“It is also clear that Joseph Muscat is an accomplice to Keith Schembri and Konrad Mizzi because he has defended them from day one and has repeated their lies. This is unbecoming of a Prime Minister and Joseph Muscat should shoulder the political responsibility.”
The PN said Muscat's, Mizzi's and Schembri’s shameless lies had exceeded all limits and have become a threat to democracy because the country could no longer be run by people like them. The people deserved far better, it said.
“The PN will not remain silent before such obscenities and it will not be intimidated by the libel suits filed by Keith Schembri and Konrad Mizzi.” The PN expressed solidarity with journalists who have become victims of libels, attacks and intimidation by the trio in Castille.