MEPs called on the Maltese government to publish the full Egrant inquiry report, and to halt the country’s sale of passports scheme, in accordance with a draft motion for a resolution tabled in the European Parliament.
The MEPs, from the European Parliament’s Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs committee (LIBE), which is charged with monitoring the rule of law and the fight against corruption in Malta and Slovakia, discussed the draft motion concerning the two countries this evening. LIBE MEPs have come to Malta on three occasions as part of their assessment of the situation in the country, with there first visit having taken place in December 2017, two months after the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. LIBE called on the relevant Maltese authorities to publish the full, un-redacted report of the Egrant magisterial inquiry. – Malta Today
“Matthew Caruana Galizia, the son of murdered journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia told a European Parliament committee on Monday that he had had been convinced that Keith Schembri and Konrad Mizzi would be jailed the day after the Panama Papers revelations came out.
Caruana Galizia was addressing the EP’s financial crimes committee, known as Tax3.
“Our investigations need to have repercussions,” he told MEP Roberta Metsola. “If this does not happen it will remain easy to kill the journalists carrying out the investigations. After the Panama Papers revelations, I was convinced that Mizzi and Schembri would go straight to jail the following day. I honestly believed this. They were not only not jailed, but they are in government. One has the second highest post in the executive and the other one controls all of Malta’s privatisation.” – Malta Independent
“Journalists Stephen Grey and Matthew Caruana Galizia said of 17 Black that they found no evidence of an inquiry and that an Electrogas Whistleblower passed on information about the company. This while meeting the Special Committee on Financial Crimes, Tax Evasion and Tax Avoidance (TAX3) this evening at the European Parliament in Strasbourg.
Grey is a Reuters journalist, who is working on the Daphne Project and helped to identify the owner of 17 Black, Yorgen Fenech. Meanwhile, Matthew Caruana Galizia is a journalist and founder of the ICIJ Data and Research Unit, and son of assassinated journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. Their meeting followed Justice Minister Owen Bonnici addressing the Committee on Financial Crimes and the state of affairs in Malta.- Newsbook
“Justice Minister Owen Bonnici on Monday hit back at claims that the rule of law is failing in Malta when he replied to questions from MEPs at an exchange of views in the financial crimes committee known at Tax3,Dr Bonnici said the government was committed to a continuous process of reform and would maintain open dialogue with the European Commission and other institutions. In his opening speech Dr Bonnici also hit back at concerns about money-laundering and tax evasion in Malta.
He said €12.5 million had been recovered through the Inland Revenue Department’s Swiss Leaks investigations and five million euro from its Panama Papers investigations. The department also recovered a further four million euro in penalties.Facing questions by firebrand MEP Ana Gomez about the “corrupt” Keith Schembri and Konrad Mizzi, Dr Bonnici said two major inquiries had concluded there were no grounds to proceed against these people.Mr Schembri and Dr Mizzi were revealed in the Panama Papers as having formed offshore companies that were set to receive up to $2 million from a mystery Dubai company called 17 Black.
One MEP pointed out during the committee meeting that Ms Caruana Galizia was killed a few months after first naming 17 Black on her blog.The Justice Minister assured that the government would continue to seek the mastermind behind Daphne Caruana Galizia’s murder. Swedish MEP Gunnar Hokmark expressed his exasperation at Dr Bonnici’s attempts to portray a message that there were no problems in Malta.“In spite of all these events about golden visas, money-laundering, problems with tax evasion…don’t you think it is a problem that people under investigation can be granted government contracts. Isn’t this a problem for Malta? “Is that your message? It makes me concerned that you are not concerned. The whole worl is looking at Malta”, Mr Hokmark said.
Dr Bonnici hit back by saying he did not believe in absolutes.He said he believed in Malta’s institutions and had provided facts about what was being done to improve them.” – Times of Malta
Meanwhile the Times of Malta has carried a fact-checking exercise for Minister Owen Bonnici’s claims to MEPs. Check here on how did the minister’s claims to an EP committee stack up against the facts?
Posts on Social Media by MEPS:
Debate video
