The Malta Independent 27 September 2023, Wednesday
View E-Paper

PN MP says Konrad Mizzi ‘colluding with PM Robert Abela to avoid investigation’

Wednesday, 13 May 2020, 20:06 Last update: about 4 years ago

Nationalist MP Jason Azzopardi has accused Konrad Mizzi, who has been abroad since 13 March, of "fleeing to the UK in order to avoid being investigated or arrested for money laundering and corruption."

Speaking during adjournment time on Wednesday, Azzopardi said Mizzi is seeking a guarantee from Prime Minister Robert Abela that he will not be arrested and investigated.

"This is the reason why Mizzi went abroad and has not yet come back even though he had the opportunity," he said.

The Opposition MP also accused Mizzi of corruption not only in Malta but also in Montenegro. He said that "Mizzi did not commit such acts alone but with three other people."

Azzopardi remarked that he has put forth a number of parliamentary questions in the last few weeks about the visits to Montenegro and asked for the official program of each visit. However, he said that the reply that was given stated that "the official program, involving the people he met and where he went, cannot be presented due to the fact that the travel was related to ministerial work in the field of energy."

He then presented a list of Mizzi's six official visits to Montenegro over the span of a year - between 2014 and 2015. He added that in "three particular visits - in June, October and November of 2015 - Mizzi was accompanied by his personal lawyer, Aaron Mifsud Bonnici.

Azzopardi said that "during these visits, Mizzi changed two hotels within the space of two days despite them being only one hour away from each other."

The PN noted that, at the time, Mizzi was Energy Minister and oversaw the Delimara power station tender. In 2015, Enemalta and Montenegro signed a deal on a wind farm project, with Enemalta putting up a guarantee of €1.5 million.

This was also the period in which Nexia BT was setting up the Panama companies of Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri.

Azzopardi claimed that Mizzi's visits to Montenegro were part of a "corrupt plan."


  • don't miss