Malta Book Council Chairman: ‘I Am Embarrassed By My Labour Party’
The chairman of the National Book Council has said he is embarrassed by the Labour Party of which he is a member of in the wake of last night’s revelations that strongly indicate that Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi and the Prime Minister’s chief of staff Keith Schembri had set up their offshore Panama companies to launder money.
“Although I will keep insisting that the Nationalist Party and its politicians are engaging in a classist war against the working class and the country’s social development, it is definitely unjustifiable that a minister and chief of staff remain stuck to their seats of power after they get caught with clear proof of money laundering and corruption,” Mark Camilleri said. “These sort of things used to happen under a Nationalist government, and as a Labour Party member and government official I feel embarrassed by all of this and many other people think likewise.”
Last night, The Times of Malta and the Süddeutsche Zeitung released details of a secret Financial Intelligence Analysis (FIAU) report that found that two Dubai companies called 17 Black and Macbridge had been set up as a vehicle through which to transfer kickbacks to Mizzi’s and Schembri’s Panama companies.
The leak includes an email sent by Mizzi’s and Schembri’s consultants Nexia BT to Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca on 17th December 2015 – two months before Daphne Caruana Galizia first started writing about the Panama Papers. In the email, Nexia BT partner Karl Cini emailed Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca to open bank accounts for Mizzi’s and Schembri’s two companies with the Witherbotham bank in the Bahamas.
In the email, Cini wrote that the two companies would be operating in the maritime and fisheries sector in Bangladesh, tourism in Asia, infrastructure projects in African countries and Indian, as well as recycling and remote gaming. Cini also states that Schembri’s and Mizzi’s main target clients will be Dubai companies called 17 Black and Macbridge and that these two companies will transfer €150,000 a month to Mizzi’s and Schembri’s companies.
Mizzi’s and Schembri’s reactions to the revelations were totally contradictory to each other. While Schembri insisted that 17 Black and Macbridge were included “in draft business plans for my business group as potential clients”, Mizzi stuck with his line of defence that his structure was solely intended as a family trust.”
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