PANA chairman Werner Langen expressed surprise at the audacity shown by the official spokesman of a government holding the EU presidency, saying he failed to understand how his letter to request Keith Schembri to attend a PANA committee hearing can be described as an attempt to join a Nationalist Party campaign.

Mr Langen was reacting to comments made by OPM chief communications officer Kurt Farrugia to The Malta Independent, published today.

In a statement, Mr Langen said:

“The government spokesman of Malta accuses me of overstepping my institutional role and of joining a national party campaign. Apparently this is based on our Committee’s wish to hear Keith Schembri, the chief of staff of the Prime Minister of Malta, who allegedly acquired offshore firms via the infamous Panamese law firm Mossack and Fonseca.

I underline that the bureau of our Committee was unanimous in its decision to invite Mr Schembri to inform Members about his side of the story in the frame of a fact finding mission to Malta on 20 February.

It was only on that very day that Mr Schembri sent a courier after me in the streets of Valletta to hand deliver his refusal to meet with us. In his letter he dismissed our mandate, accused the Committee of not being sincere and explained that he “feels that his attendance would cause harm and disrepute to his country”.

Our coordinators unanimously decided not to accept this reply and - at their request - on 29 March, I wrote a letter to Prime Minister Muscat to ask him to use his authority to convince Mr Schembri to accept a new invitation to appear in a hearing before our Committee on 18 May in Strasbourg.           

I have not yet received a reply from the Maltese government, but in today’s Malta Independent I read that the spokesman of the government accuses me of overstepping my institutional role in order to join a party campaign against the government.

I am very much surprised to read such statements made by officials speaking on the record on behalf of the government that is holding the Council Presidency. I believe that it is in the interest of every citizen that Member States and European Institutions stand shoulder to shoulder to clamp down on money laundering and tax evasion and I fail to understand how such statements contribute to that.

I reiterate that it was the unanimous wish of the coordinators of all political groups to hear from Mr Schembri - being a politically exposed person involved in the Panama Papers - about his offshore dealings with Mossack and Fonseca. I strongly dismiss any claim of me being partial over this matter.

Furthermore I call on the Maltese government to engage with our Committee’s efforts to articulate recommendations that could put an end to money laundering and tax evasion, rather than questioning our mandate. I recall that we have invited the Presidency for a hearing on 30 May.”