Hi_Henry
The Living Force
Malta is peanuts in this department (corruption etc.). I bet they steal bigger sums in your country and in those former Communist block countries. The book "Economic Hitman" shows the "How?".
"Panama Papers" Leak
- Thread starter whitecoast
- Start date
Malta is peanuts in this department (corruption etc.). I bet they steal bigger sums in your country and in those former Communist block countries. The book "Economic Hitman" shows the "How?".
angelburst29
The Living Force
November 12, 2018 - Maltese opposition calls for Minister to quit over Power Station Contract
Maltese opposition calls for minister to quit over power station contract | Reuters
Malta’s opposition on Monday called for the tourism minister and the prime minister’s top aide to resign after an investigation by Reuters and Times of Malta showed that Panama companies they had set up had arranged to receive money through a mystery company called 17 Black in Dubai.
Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi was the minister responsible for energy at the time a major power station contract was awarded by the government to another company, one of whose directors secretly owned 17 Black.
He has described the reports as a “coordinated attack” against him and insisted he never had any connections with, or information about, 17 Black.
But opposition leader Adrian Delia said in a debate in parliament on Monday that in any normal democratic country, ministers would have resigned if even half as serious allegations were made.
He said Prime Minister Joseph Muscat had said he would resign if another secret Panama company, called Egrant, was found to belong to him or his wife, as alleged by murdered investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.
Caruana Galizia wrote in a blog about 17 Black Limited, alleging it was connected to Maltese politicians.
She was killed by a car bomb in October 2017, prompting an international outcry. No evidence has emerged that connects her death to any of her journalism. But her killing did renew interest in her many different claims.
Neither Muscat nor Mizzi attended the debate which ended without any vote taken.
In July a magisterial inquiry found no evidence that Egrant belonged to Muscat. But, Delia said, Mizzi and the prime minister’s chief of staff Keith Schembri should resign because the reports about them had been proved and had not been denied.
He questioned why Muscat was continuing to defend the two, saying the allegations were damaging Malta’s reputation and Muscat would have to assume political responsibility if he continued to do nothing.
Justice Minister Owen Bonnici said the government would await the outcome of a judicial inquiry and would not base any conclusion on reports in the media or Facebook.
Deputy Prime Minister Chris Fearne said the Reuters report showed that Malta’s institutions were working because it quoted information from an investigation by the Financial Intelligence Unit. The government would await the outcome of such investigations before acting.
Former opposition leader Simon Busuttil said the case showed unprecedented corruption. It had emerged that the secret Panama companies opened by Mizzi and Schembri were to receive $150,000 a month for 18 years from 17 Black which it now emerged was owned by a director of the power station.
Funds were also to be received from another company, Macbridge, whose owners were not yet known.
The government was saying it would await the outcome of judicial inquiries, he said, and yet in court it was strongly objecting to such inquiries being held in the first place.
Maltese opposition calls for minister to quit over power station contract | Reuters
Malta’s opposition on Monday called for the tourism minister and the prime minister’s top aide to resign after an investigation by Reuters and Times of Malta showed that Panama companies they had set up had arranged to receive money through a mystery company called 17 Black in Dubai.
Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi was the minister responsible for energy at the time a major power station contract was awarded by the government to another company, one of whose directors secretly owned 17 Black.
He has described the reports as a “coordinated attack” against him and insisted he never had any connections with, or information about, 17 Black.
But opposition leader Adrian Delia said in a debate in parliament on Monday that in any normal democratic country, ministers would have resigned if even half as serious allegations were made.
He said Prime Minister Joseph Muscat had said he would resign if another secret Panama company, called Egrant, was found to belong to him or his wife, as alleged by murdered investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.
Caruana Galizia wrote in a blog about 17 Black Limited, alleging it was connected to Maltese politicians.
She was killed by a car bomb in October 2017, prompting an international outcry. No evidence has emerged that connects her death to any of her journalism. But her killing did renew interest in her many different claims.
Neither Muscat nor Mizzi attended the debate which ended without any vote taken.
In July a magisterial inquiry found no evidence that Egrant belonged to Muscat. But, Delia said, Mizzi and the prime minister’s chief of staff Keith Schembri should resign because the reports about them had been proved and had not been denied.
He questioned why Muscat was continuing to defend the two, saying the allegations were damaging Malta’s reputation and Muscat would have to assume political responsibility if he continued to do nothing.
Justice Minister Owen Bonnici said the government would await the outcome of a judicial inquiry and would not base any conclusion on reports in the media or Facebook.
Deputy Prime Minister Chris Fearne said the Reuters report showed that Malta’s institutions were working because it quoted information from an investigation by the Financial Intelligence Unit. The government would await the outcome of such investigations before acting.
Former opposition leader Simon Busuttil said the case showed unprecedented corruption. It had emerged that the secret Panama companies opened by Mizzi and Schembri were to receive $150,000 a month for 18 years from 17 Black which it now emerged was owned by a director of the power station.
Funds were also to be received from another company, Macbridge, whose owners were not yet known.
The government was saying it would await the outcome of judicial inquiries, he said, and yet in court it was strongly objecting to such inquiries being held in the first place.
angelburst29
The Living Force
November 16, 2018 - Maltese PM says ready to quit if implicated in probe into mystery firm
Maltese PM says ready to quit if implicated in probe into mystery firm | Reuters
FILE PHOTO: Prime Minister of Malta Joseph Muscat addresses the 73rd session of the United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York, U.S., September 27, 2018. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri/File Photo
Malta Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said on Friday he was ready to resign if implicated by official inquiries into a mystery Dubai firm and its links to companies set up in Panama by his chief of staff and former energy minister.
Asked about related revelations in articles by Reuters and the Times of Malta on Nov. 9, Muscat said he had never questioned his aide, Keith Schembri, about the matter.
“My chief of staff was involved in the business world. I do not get involved in his business affairs,” he said.
The two articles shed light on a mystery company in Dubai known as 17 Black that accountants for Schembri and ex-energy minister Konrad Mizzi - who is currently tourism minister - had named as a potential source of revenues of up to $2 million for the two men’s Panama companies.
17 Black was first identified by a Maltese journalist, Daphne Caruana Galizia, who was murdered last October. No evidence has emerged that connects her death to any of her journalism.
Through her knowledge of the “Panama Papers” - thousands of documents leaked from Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca - Caruana Galizia discovered that Schembri and Mizzi had used the firm to set up companies in Panama within days of taking office.
The Reuters Nov. 9 article, citing three sources and documentary evidence, revealed that authorities in Malta and the United Arab Emirates had identified the owner of 17 Black as Yorgen Fenech, director and shareholder of a business group that in 2013 won a concession to build a 450 million euro ($517 million) gas power station on Malta.
Fenech, Mizzi and Schembri have denied any wrongdoing.
In written response to Reuters questions last month, Mizzi denied any knowledge of 17 Black. Schembri, in a previous statement in April, confirmed that 17 Black had figured in a business plan that never went ahead.
Fenech denied any wrongdoing or knowledge of Mizzi or Schembri’s Panama companies. He declined to confirm or deny if he owned 17 Black.
On Monday, Malta’s opposition Nationalist Party urged Muscat to fire both Mizzi and Schembri.
“Political responsibility would have been shouldered in any other civilized, Western country,” Nationalist Party leader Adrian Delia said.
But Muscat said he would await the results of an official inquiry that will examine the Panama companies and 17 Black. The inquiry is currently stalled pending legal action to block its work, from among others, Muscat himself.
Muscat said his legal action was not to oppose the inquiry itself. “My appeal was because I was being mentioned in something I have no involvement in.”
Asked if he would resign if any proof of wrongdoing was found, Muscat said: “I am ready to resign if the inquiry finds any wrongdoing on my part. Without a doubt. I am awaiting the outcome of the inquiries and investigations with regards to the persons you mentioned, then I will take decisions from there.”
Maltese PM says ready to quit if implicated in probe into mystery firm | Reuters
FILE PHOTO: Prime Minister of Malta Joseph Muscat addresses the 73rd session of the United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York, U.S., September 27, 2018. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri/File Photo
Malta Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said on Friday he was ready to resign if implicated by official inquiries into a mystery Dubai firm and its links to companies set up in Panama by his chief of staff and former energy minister.
Asked about related revelations in articles by Reuters and the Times of Malta on Nov. 9, Muscat said he had never questioned his aide, Keith Schembri, about the matter.
“My chief of staff was involved in the business world. I do not get involved in his business affairs,” he said.
The two articles shed light on a mystery company in Dubai known as 17 Black that accountants for Schembri and ex-energy minister Konrad Mizzi - who is currently tourism minister - had named as a potential source of revenues of up to $2 million for the two men’s Panama companies.
17 Black was first identified by a Maltese journalist, Daphne Caruana Galizia, who was murdered last October. No evidence has emerged that connects her death to any of her journalism.
Through her knowledge of the “Panama Papers” - thousands of documents leaked from Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca - Caruana Galizia discovered that Schembri and Mizzi had used the firm to set up companies in Panama within days of taking office.
The Reuters Nov. 9 article, citing three sources and documentary evidence, revealed that authorities in Malta and the United Arab Emirates had identified the owner of 17 Black as Yorgen Fenech, director and shareholder of a business group that in 2013 won a concession to build a 450 million euro ($517 million) gas power station on Malta.
Fenech, Mizzi and Schembri have denied any wrongdoing.
In written response to Reuters questions last month, Mizzi denied any knowledge of 17 Black. Schembri, in a previous statement in April, confirmed that 17 Black had figured in a business plan that never went ahead.
Fenech denied any wrongdoing or knowledge of Mizzi or Schembri’s Panama companies. He declined to confirm or deny if he owned 17 Black.
On Monday, Malta’s opposition Nationalist Party urged Muscat to fire both Mizzi and Schembri.
“Political responsibility would have been shouldered in any other civilized, Western country,” Nationalist Party leader Adrian Delia said.
But Muscat said he would await the results of an official inquiry that will examine the Panama companies and 17 Black. The inquiry is currently stalled pending legal action to block its work, from among others, Muscat himself.
Muscat said his legal action was not to oppose the inquiry itself. “My appeal was because I was being mentioned in something I have no involvement in.”
Asked if he would resign if any proof of wrongdoing was found, Muscat said: “I am ready to resign if the inquiry finds any wrongdoing on my part. Without a doubt. I am awaiting the outcome of the inquiries and investigations with regards to the persons you mentioned, then I will take decisions from there.”
angelburst29
The Living Force
November 18, 2018 - Malta Police identify suspected Journalist Murder Masterminds: report
Malta police identify suspected journalist murder masterminds: report | Reuters
VALLETTA - Investigators have identified a group of at least three Maltese nationals who they believe masterminded the killing of anti-corruption journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia 13 months ago, The Sunday Times of Malta reported on Sunday.
It did not reveal their names, but quoted high-ranking officers leading the murder probe as saying that their investigation was at a “very advanced stage”.
There was no immediate comment from the police on the press report.
Sources quoted by The Sunday Times of Malta gave no indication of how much longer the investigation could take or if there had been any new arrests in the case.
Caruana Galizia, who penned an anti-corruption blog, was killed by a car bomb near the Maltese capital Valletta in October 2017 - a murder that appalled Europe and raised questions about the rule of law on the Mediterranean island.
Three men suspected of having been commissioned to carry out the killing have been under arrest for almost a year. They have pleaded not guilty.
A court documenting initial evidence against the trio has heard evidence that they allegedly planted a bomb in Caruana Galizia’s car and set it off via an SMS message.
The motive behind the murder remains unknown, with the Sunday Times saying the investigators believe the masterminds had different motives and came together to contract the three men accused.
The sources would not give any indication of whether the masterminds came from the criminal, business or political sectors.
Investigators were quoted as saying they were in constant contact with Europol – the EU’s law enforcement agency – over the case, and in recent weeks this contact intensified significantly as police got closer to cracking the case.
“We have a large amount of data that requires analysing and partners like Europol have the necessary experience and expertise to help facilitate this process,” a source told the newspaper.
Slideshow (2 Images)
Malta police identify suspected journalist murder masterminds: report | Reuters
Malta police identify suspected journalist murder masterminds: report | Reuters
VALLETTA - Investigators have identified a group of at least three Maltese nationals who they believe masterminded the killing of anti-corruption journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia 13 months ago, The Sunday Times of Malta reported on Sunday.
It did not reveal their names, but quoted high-ranking officers leading the murder probe as saying that their investigation was at a “very advanced stage”.
There was no immediate comment from the police on the press report.
Sources quoted by The Sunday Times of Malta gave no indication of how much longer the investigation could take or if there had been any new arrests in the case.
Caruana Galizia, who penned an anti-corruption blog, was killed by a car bomb near the Maltese capital Valletta in October 2017 - a murder that appalled Europe and raised questions about the rule of law on the Mediterranean island.
Three men suspected of having been commissioned to carry out the killing have been under arrest for almost a year. They have pleaded not guilty.
A court documenting initial evidence against the trio has heard evidence that they allegedly planted a bomb in Caruana Galizia’s car and set it off via an SMS message.
The motive behind the murder remains unknown, with the Sunday Times saying the investigators believe the masterminds had different motives and came together to contract the three men accused.
The sources would not give any indication of whether the masterminds came from the criminal, business or political sectors.
Investigators were quoted as saying they were in constant contact with Europol – the EU’s law enforcement agency – over the case, and in recent weeks this contact intensified significantly as police got closer to cracking the case.
“We have a large amount of data that requires analysing and partners like Europol have the necessary experience and expertise to help facilitate this process,” a source told the newspaper.
Slideshow (2 Images)
Malta police identify suspected journalist murder masterminds: report | Reuters
