PN Leader Adrian Delia has launched a formal request for police to open up an investigation into whether or not Nexia BT’s Karl Cini committed perjury when appearing before the Egrant inquiry.

At a political activity on Sunday Delia had given police a 48-hour ultimatum a 48-hour ultimatum to launch an investigation into Cini after the Egrant inquiry’s investigations uncovered that Cini may have committed perjury.

Cini appears to have fudged some details over the number of offshore companies he set up for the former Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff Keith Schembri, while also failing to disclose a declaration and package sent by Schembri’s  British Virgin Island account.

Magistrate Aaron Bugeja believed there was enough prima facie evidence to charge Cini and ordered Police Commissioner Lawrence Cutajar to investigate.

While the extent of Cutajar’s investigation is unknown, Cini was interrogated by the police for several hours on 23rd August 2018.

Cini told the inquiry that he only opened four companies in the British Virgin Island. However, investigations by forensic accounts a further seven set up by Cini in the offshore jurisdiction were uncovered, which were:

Colson, Selson, Lester, SPX, Blue Sea, Torbridge, and Berdil.

According to ICIJ database Lester, Colson and Selson are owned by Adrian Hillman (Allied Newspapers/Progress Press), Keith Schembri (the Prime Minister’s chief of staff) and Malcolm Scerri respectively.

Torbridge’s ultimate beneficial owner is Cheng Che of Shanghai Electric Power of the Delimara power station.

All of the companies are concealed by Mossack Fonseca’s fiduciary services company ATC Administrators Inc.

Meanwhile, in his testimony, Cini told the court that he never received a DHL package sent by Mirzella Tunon, of the Panama Paper’s Mossack Fonseca, at the end of February 2017; along with a separate declaration from the aforementioned ATC Administrators Inc.

However, an email uncovered by investigators proved otherwise.

Cini has since said that the “discrepancies” in his testimony were due to “misunderstandings and have been cleared up by investigators.

Nexia BT has played a central figure in the Egrant inquiry and the Panama Papers scandal having set up Egrant, and the accounts of former Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff and Konrad Mizzi.