Former prime minister Joseph Muscat on Sunday said he had no reason to fear further investigations into claims his family is linked to offshore company Egrant.
Muscat was reacting to an exclusive Times of Malta report on Sunday that a probe by foreign experts into the operations of the shuttered Pilatus Bank had recommended further investigative steps be taken to get to the bottom of claims surrounding the once-secret company.
“I assure everyone that I have nothing against any further steps to put at rest even the slightest doubt that some people seem to be intent in continuing to raise. Bring it on,” he wrote in a Facebook post on Sunday morning.
Muscat said he has not seen the expert report and did not know its contents but said he was “quite clear in saying that anyone can investigate whatever they want”.
“I hope the United States are asked whether there was any money which was given to my wife or myself, if they have not been asked already. Neither myself, nor my wife or family have anything to do with Egrant or with any transaction, as already concluded by an independent inquiry,” he wrote.
The former prime minister, who resigned in 2019 over his office's suspected links to the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia, said he and his family had been “through hell based on forged signatures, and we were proved right”.
“Once there is the same conclusion as before, what will happen? Will the person who fabricated all this continue evading justice? Who will compensate the people for the millions of euro that have been spent on the Egrant invention against me which was aimed at destabilising government? Who will do justice with our family?” he asked.
Former Pilatus Bank employee Maria Efimova had claimed a $1.01 million transaction was wired to the Panama company Egrant, which she further alleged was owned by Michelle Muscat, wife of then prime minister.
The Muscats had staunchly rejected any connection and the Egrant inquiry which was finished in 2018 concluded there was no evidence to back the claims.