Activist and blogger Manuel Delia has called for the inquiry into the infamous Panama account Egrant to be reopened following a string of arrests including Keith Schembri, and Nexia BT’s Karl Cini and Brian Tonna.

Egrant is a mysterious company linked to the Panama Papers scandal. It was first alleged by journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia that it belonged to Michelle Muscat, the wife of former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat.

However, a magisterial inquiry later found no evidence that Egrant ever belonged to the Muscats or that it received any payments whatsoever, but it did establish who the company was purchased for.

It was one of three offshore companies set up by Nexia BT, more specifically by Cini and Tonna. The two others were owned by Schembri and former minister Konrad Mizzi. 

The two men are the only people who can say for certain the identity of the company’s owner.

“When then Magistrate Aaron Bugeja wrapped up the Egrant inquiry he went beyond his call of duty. He was definitely within his rights to conclude that he found insufficient evidence to let him confirm with any confidence that the claim that Egrant belonged to Michelle Muscat was factual and correct,” Delia wrote in a blog post.

Maria Efimova, the whistleblower in the case, has been fighting to get whistleblower status in Malta to be able to reveal the alleged evidence she has in her possession.

Egrant, along with Mizzi and Schembri’s off-shore companies, has been linked to significant corruption allegations.

17 Black, the Dubai-based company of Yorgen Fenech, the main suspect in the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia was listed as the target client for the companies belonging to Mizzi and Schembri. 

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