Watch: Joseph Muscat – ‘Inquiry Found Absolutely No Evidence Against Me’
A day before the start of his court case, former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has issued a public message to reiterate his conviction that the magisterial inquiry found “absolutely no evidence” against me.
“This inquiry cost €11 million and took four and a half years, and all it found were conjectures, assumptions and opinions by so-called experts, some of which were contradictory,” Muscat said after MaltaToday published the inquiry.
“All the inquiry found was €60,000 in transactions for work I did, which I told them about myself because I declared them in my tax returns. However, despite this, someone decided to issue a €30 million freezing order against me with no justification.”
“It seems that, in this second Egrant, someone relied on the words of an Indian national who said that he heard I could have taken millions. However, the millions were never found and the inquiry even suggests I could have taken the money in cash, as though it were a credible claim.”
The inquiry found that Muscat netted €450,000 in consultancy fees since resigning as Prime Minister, including €200,000 from an exotic bird company owned by Johann Schembri, who also runs the Dragonara Casino.
However, Muscat focused on the €60,000 he received from Accutor Consulting AG and SpringX Media that the magisterial inquiry flagged as suspicious.
“€11 million was used to find €60,000 in transactions for work that I did and that I revealed myself when I declared them in my tax returns.”
“Why didn’t they ask me to testify to provide the proof for the work I carried out as I had requested? When the time comes, I will give this evidence in court to show, through testimony and facts, that work was done.”
Muscat said that he is ready to embark on a long legal battle to “destroy this castle of sand with tsunami of facts”.
“Let’s stay calm because I have no doubt that important facts will emerge to prove that someone tried to cook up a lie against me, that will end up boomeranging against the allegers.”
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