Konrad Mizzi says Panama company ‘undergoing liquidation’

No-Portfolio Minister Konrad Mizzi yesterday said that the company he opened in Panama is “undergoing liquidation”, but was not in a position to say when the process will be completed.

Pressed by journalists, Dr Mizzi said that the liquidation process started in January, three months ago.

Minister Mizzi said this when asked by journalists to give a ‘yes or no answer,’ whether the company in Panama is closed down or not. “It is undergoing liquidation,” he said.

When pressed on the matter, the Minister said that the liquidation process started at the beginning of this year. He did not know when this process would be concluded as it was not in his hands.

Asked why the liquidation process started in January when the Panama Papers scandal was revealed in April last year, Dr Mizzi said that he wanted to wait until the audit exercise he had requested was completed before ordering the liquidation of the company. The audit exercise Dr Mizzi was referring to was concluded in September, although it was only made public in February.

“I was always consistent when I said I would close the company down after the audit is made public,” he added.

The Minister was also asked whether he believes that Prime Minister should order his Chief of Staff Keith Schembri to appear before the PANA Committee. He reiterated the same old reply, that “he has exhausted the subject completely.”

Earlier this week, the PANA chairman Werner Langen expressed surprise at the audacity shown by the official spokesman of a government holding the EU presidency, saying he failed to understand how his letter to request Keith Schembri to attend a PANA committee hearing can be described as an attempt to join a Nationalist Party campaign.