Prime Minister Joseph Muscat today defended his chief of staff Keith Schembri’s continued silence about his offshore financial set up, saying that Eddie Fenech Adami’s right hand man Richard Cachia Caruana never used to face the media.
Asked if Mr Schembri should submit himself to a full tax audit, Dr Muscat said the main point about Mr Schembri is that he resigned from the directorships of his companies prior to taking up his current position.
Questioned why Inland Revenue did not find out about Mr Schembri and Energy Minister’s Konrad Mizzi’s trust earlier if information was readily exchanged between Malta and New Zealand, Dr Muscat said that if the information was requested the New Zealand authorities had to pass it on.
Dr Muscat said both men had good intentions and did nothing illegal.
He reiterated his promise to remove Dr Mizzi if an audit found that he was hiding money in his Panamanian company.
Dr Muscat said things could have been done better and the government still needed to work on improving its standards.
CACHIA CARUANA DENIES PRIME MINISTER'S CLAIM
In a reply, Mr Cachia Carauana said it was simply untrue to claim that he did not answer questions from the press.
"I did this consistently. It is part of the job of any chief of staff to keep in regular contact with journalists and I did so. After 1990 I was usually at the Prime Minister’s side when he gave press conferences and, furthermore, as the job developed so did my interface with the press and other institutions. I gave interviews from time to time to objective and bona fide journalists and I gave briefings to journalists.
There are no parallels whatsoever between the situation facing Keith Schembri today and that faced by me many years ago- Richard Cachia Caruana
"There are no parallels whatsoever between the situation facing Keith Schembri today and that faced by me many years ago. The individuals concerned are different. The prime ministers are different. The time is different. Most importantly, however, the facts are very different. I never opened a company in Panama when I was running the prime minister's office. Nor did I set up a personal trust anywhere. Nor did I open companies in the British Virgin Islands before or after I joined the prime minister’s office. If I had, the minute their existence would have come to Prime Minister Fenech Adami’s attention I would have been out of the door," Mr Cachia Caruana said.
He said that he had hoped that after his Facebook Post on Sunday, Dr Muscat would have understood that the only help he could give him was the advice to get rid of both Minister Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri as soon as possible, Mr Cachia Caruana added.