AD says Speaker has not yet accepted invitation for PANA committee to meet MPs

Despite the fact that the PANA enquiry committee have asked to meet the present Maltese members of parliament on 20 February, to date this request has not yet been accepted by the Speaker of the Maltese parliament, Alternattiva Demokratika said in a statement.

Moreover, politicians of special interest to PANA, like Konrad Mizzi and Ninu Zammit, have not bothered to answer. The only Maltese politicians who have confirmed are Minister Edward Scicluna and Beppe Fenech Adami.

On the other hand, four Maltese journalists, officials from the Tax Compliance Unit and the Malta Financial Services Authority as well as the Acting Director of the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit and the police commissioner, together with the Managing Director of Sparkasse Bank, representatives of EMD Advisory and Deloitte (Malta) have all confirmed they will be meeting the PANA Committee.

Brian Tonna and Karl Cini of Nexia BT have not done so. Neither has Keith Schembri, AD said.

Alternattiva Demokratika Chairperson, Prof. Arnold Cassola, said: “It is shameful that all the Maltese politicians invited, apart from Minister Scicluna and Beppe Fenech Adami, are avoiding the meeting, thus reinforcing the impression that they have something to hide. Then they have the nerve to speak about transparency and openness. As for Konrad Mizzi, Keith Schembri and Brian Tonna, the more you run away, the more you convince all Maltese that you were involved in dirty business. The more you run away, the more you will be haunted by the Panama Papers for the rest of your days.”