Simon Busuttil Confident ‘Full Truth’ On Egrant Will Emerge, Still Strongly Suspects It Belonged To Muscat
Former PN leader Simon Busuttil said he’s confident the full truth on the elusive Panama company Egrant will emerge someday, with the people who set it up now facing serious court charges.
“[Nexia BT partner] Brian Tonna, who set up Egrant, has now been charged with money laundering and falsifying documents,” Busuttil noted during an interview on TVM’s L-Erbgħa Fost il-Ġimgħa last night.
“We still need to find out whether Egrant belongs to Joseph Muscat or not, but the truth is that the people who set up the company are facing this kind of charge. And then Joseph Muscat had the gall to say I falsified the Egrant documents myself.”
Busuttil also asked how Prime Minister Robert Abela would react if Tonna ends up requesting a presidential pardon in return for information on Egrant.
Busuttil was questioned about the Egrant magisterial inquiry, which found no evidence the company belonged to the former Prime Minister’s wife, as alleged by now-assassinated journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.
The inquiry found forged signatures on alleged declarations of trust that were handed in by former newspaper editor Pierre Portelli.
However, Busuttil noted that the inquiry didn’t establish why Egrant was set up, and said he still suspects it was set up for Muscat.
He dismissed Prime Minister Robert Abela’s recent assertion that the inquiry established that Egrant belonged to Brian Tonna.
“Is it possible for Abela to believe that Egrant belongs to Tonna? If so, it means he’s living a lie. The inquiry found that Tonna opened three Panama companies for his clients as an accountant – two were sold to Keith Schembri and Konrad Mizzi, and the third one was intended for someone.”
“In fact, when a fourth client came knocking, [Tonna] didn’t sell him Egrant but opened a fourth Panama company.”
Questioned about the Labour Party’s recent denial that Egrant belonged to them, Busuttil laughed and said the only thing he knows for certain is that the Panama company wasn’t set up for himself.
“The Labour Party has said it wasn’t set up for them either; I say let’s wait for the truth because I have no doubt it will emerge. The people who opened Egrant have been charged in court and at one point they’ll be asked who they opened it for, and then we’ll know the truth.”
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