Finance Minister Edward Scicluna was reluctant to comment on the fact that a fellow Cabinet minister opened a company in Panama, adding Konrad Mizzi had already admitted it was a mistake.

Prof. Scicluna, however, insisted there were legitimate uses for trusts and these were also openly used by European Commissioners when taking up their post as a means to put distance between them and their wealth.

“It all depends on the motivation for opening a trust,” he said, insisting he did not want to enter into the merits of Dr Mizzi’s specific case.

Dr Mizzi and the Prime Minister’s chief of staff Keith Schembri opened trusts in New Zealand and companies in Panama last year and have faced a barrage of criticism for their actions.

Prof. Scicluna said that what interested him was that institutions under his wing such as the Tax Commissioner and Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit, did their job according to law.

Dr Mizzi asked the Tax Commissioner to audit him. But it also transpired that the minister had failed to declare the trust with the Inland Revenue Department when it was set up and now will have to incur a penalty.

Asked how difficult it was for any authority to obtain information from a secretive jurisdiction like Panama, Prof. Scicluna said that he “imagined” it would be less of a problem once the person concerned gave his waiver to the respective authorities to pass on the information.

He said the Panama affair was discussed at Cabinet and parliamentary group level but stopped short of saying what was discussed.

Asked about rumours that he had tendered his resignation from Cabinet, Prof. Scicluna insisted he was not one to abandon ship. “As if,” he replied to a direct question after first misunderstanding a similar question.

Prof. Scicluna was vague when asked whether he was interested in becoming a member of the European Court of Auditors in the wake of Toni Abela’s rejection.