Live Blog: Emotional Prime Minister Declares Egrant ‘Nightmare Is Over’
Prime Minister Joseph Muscat will be addressing a live press conference from Castille this morning in response to the conclusion of the long-awaited Egrant inquiry.
The inquiry by Magistrate Aaron Bugeja, which took 15 months to be concluded, was intended to establish whether there is enough evidence to suggest that the Panama company Egrant belonged to the Prime Minister or his wife Michelle Muscat as the late journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia had alleged, supported by a whistleblower from Pilatus Bank, Maria Efimova.
This blog will be updated live on the main findings and statements by the Prime Minister.
11.14: Muscat said that he was tonight informed that there was a group of illegal immigrants which capsized, 17 were feared dead but just before the press conference he was informed that they had all been saved and some will be brought to Malta.
11.12: “I will not do what they did to me. I will not hold a public lynching,” Muscat said when asked whether actions should be taken against protagonists like Pierre Portelli.
11.10: Muscat said Michelle Muscat is relieved “this nightmare is over”.
11.05: Muscat said there’s a third part of the inquiry that suggest criminal actions but this has not been published yet.
11.03: Muscat thanks his children and assures them that neither him nor his wife would be going to prison. He is now crying uncontrollably.
11.02: Muscat says his wife Michelle Muscat could not be with him today because she is abroad on voluntary work. Muscat is tearing up.
11.01: The Prime Minister insists that the inquiry should be published in full and not simply its conclusions as decided by the Attorney General.
10.59: Muscat says Busuttil’s calumny has been confirmed as a certified lie and he should resign from Parliament.
10.58: Muscat lashes out at former Opposition leader Simon Busuttil for riding on this “frame-up” and endangering the economy of the country.
10.47: The report refutes that Pilatus Bank chairman Ali Sadr removed lots of documents from the bank on the night the allegations were made.
10.46: The signatures of Jacqueline Alexander on the Declarations of Trust did not match with her actual signatures, the report says. There was also no other evidence that bound Michelle Muscat with Egrant Inc.
10.43: The press conference has begun. Muscat says there are no doubts following the inquiry. He says documents have been false. Someone falsified them and this is a criminal act, he said. “This was a frame up against me and my family.”
10.37: The inquiry shows the key witnesses often contradicted each other, including Daphne Caruana Galizia, Maria Efimova and then-editor of the Malta Independent Pierre Portelli.
10.35: This is the key conclusion of the 1,500-page inquiry.
10.30: The conclusions of the report have been published. The full report is not being published to protect third parties, according to the Attorney General.
10.25: Labour CEO Randolph Debattista is claiming that documents were falsified.
10.20: Karl Stagno Navarro declares the finding are now public. The shares of Egrant were not for Michelle Muscat or held for her or her husband.
10.10: Labour exponents are already calling for the resignation of Simon Busuttil, the former Opposition leader who resigned after losing the snap election called by Muscat last year. Presumably they want him to resign from Parliament for having campaigned on these allegations. Busuttil is today the Nationalist Party’s spokesman on good governance.
10.08: Lovin Malta reported earlier this morning that the Magistrate’s 1,500-page inquiry was in the Prime Minister’s hands.
10.06: One News has began a special TV programme presented by Karl Stagno Navarro on the Egrant inquiry ahead of this morning’s press conference. Stagno Navarro sets the tone by calling Egrant the biggest lie in political history. The PN’s TV station Net is showing a live mass instead.
10.05: As you wait, refresh your memory from 15 months ago with the Egrant Exposed series of award-winning investigative articles by Lovin Malta.
10am: The atmosphere is already more than jubilant on One, the Labour Party’s TV station. Presenter Manuel Micallef just ended a paper scan TV show with the words: “He who laughs last, laughs best.”
9.45am: Prime Minister Joseph Muscat is expected to deliver a press conference at 10.30am from Castille.
Have your say in the comments below.
READ NEXT: Egrant Exposed: Refresh Your Memory Before Tomorrow’s Reveal With Lovin Malta’s Explainers
