Former Nationalist Party Leader Simon Busuttil still suspects that Egrant, the third Panama company set up by Nexia BT, is owned by Joseph and Michelle Muscat.

On this week’s edition of Indepth, Busuttil was asked whether he still believes that the Muscats own Egrant, even after the publication of the full inquiry report. The inquiring magistrate had said he had found no proof that the Muscats owned the company, but the report did not identify a different owner, either.

The MP, who will soon take up the role of EPP Secretary General, said he still holds the same suspicions he held months ago. “Who do you think I believe; Daphne or Muscat?”

The €1 million inquiry, he said, had failed to say who the owner is. “I don’t buy it,” he said, adding that no proof of the Muscats’ ownership was found because evidence was “swept away.”

“There were three companies. One belonged to Keith Schembri, the other to Konrad Mizzi. Everyone suspects that the third one belonged to Muscat, even Labour Ministers do.”

Busuttil also pointed to the links between the Office of the Prime Minister and Daphne’s murder.

“They plotted a journalist’s murder to cover up their corruption. Egrant is only a small part of what we know today.” He said that Malta’s democracy is “dysfunctional” and called for a united effort to fix the country.

Asked whether the 2017 coalition between the Nationalist Party and the Partit Demokratiku was a mistake, Busuttil said it was not. “I believe it was a good choice. Godfrey and Marlene Farrugia believe in the same values I believe in; democracy, the rule of law, that everyone should be equal before the law.”

 

He said that it was a shame that the coalition had been dissolved because the Opposition had lost two Parliamentary seats.

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Earlier 

Former Nationalist Party Leader Simon Busuttil said yesterday that, while his chapter in local politics is drawing to a close, he will keep up his fight against corruption in his new role as Secretary General of the European People's Party (EPP).

Busuttil will take up the new role next month, after resigning from the Maltese Parliament.

Interviewed by The Malta Independent Deputy Editor-in-Chief Neil Camilleri on this week's edition of Indepth, Busuttil said, "the idea of Europe, that we are Maltese and European, has always been my greatest passion. I will still be there for the Maltese people, working to safeguard democracy and the rule of law, in Malta and other Member States."

Busuttil said the PN had made a number of mistakes but these can never be compared to the Labour government's corruption.

"Just a few months ago, Robert Abela was backing Joseph Muscat," he said of the new Prime Minister. "Corruption is still there and it stinks. Corruption is not blue or red, it is filth and it has no place in politics."

Asked about the current situation in the PN, Busuttil remarked that it is in everyone's best interest for the country to have a strong Opposition. 

When asked whether the PN needs a new leader, Busuttil said, "The Nationalist Party is part of my blood and I will not speak publicly in any way that would harm my party. Does this mean I do not have an opinion? Of course I do, but I voice these opinions internally with the party and sometimes with Delia too. I love the party, not because it is blue, but because being part of the Nationalist Party means to love Malta."