Two former Nationalist ministers who held undeclared amounts in Swiss banks remain tight-lipped over the issue despite numerous unanswered questions.

Ninu Zammit and Michael Falzon did not want to com-ment when contacted yesterday, both sticking to the statements they released on Saturday and Sunday respectively.

Former Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi has admitted being caught by surprise at the revelations (see story on page 4). Mr Zammit had served as minister between 2004 and 2008 in Dr Gonzi’s first legislature.

Mr Zammit has so far failed to disclose the amount of money stashed away in a secret HSBC account in Switzerland before benefiting from an amnesty and repatriating the funds last year.

In an e-mail reply yesterday, Mr Zammit reiterated that his fiscal position with the Inland Revenue Department was “in order” after paying the tax and penalties due under last year’s amnesty scheme.

“I was granted compliance after passing through rigorous checks,” Mr Zammit said.

He refused to answer questions as to whether he abdicated political responsibility when holding undeclared money while he served as an MP and Cabinet minister.

Mr Falzon had said in a statement that he held €460,000 in a Swiss bank account and his fiscal position had been regularised in 2008.

He later clarified that he had never benefited from an amnesty that was the result of a decision taken while he was minister.

However, while the tax position of Mr Zammit and Mr Falzon may have been regularised over time, both have failed to address the political ramifications of having had undeclared cash while serving as MPs and Cabinet members. Mr Falzon was elected an MP in 1976 and returned to Parliament in every election until 1998 when he failed to win a seat. Between 1987 and 1996 he held various ministerial posts.

They watched in 1994 as fellow MP resigned

Mr Falzon said he opened the Swiss account in 1985 with the money coming from an architectural partnership that serviced overseas clients in the previous decade.

Mr Zammit was elected for the first time in 1981 and served as an MP until 2013. Between 1987 and 2008 he held various Cabinet posts.

He claimed to have opened the account in the 1970s with deposits coming from his architectural profession and property deals.

However, the revelations come with a twist of historical irony. Mr Falzon and Mr Zammit were Cabinet members in 1994 when a backbench colleague of theirs was pilloried for evading tax on an undeclared investment account.

Fortnightly newspaper Alternattiva had published a story showing how PN MP Lino Gauci Borda held an investment account in the UK with £48,000, which had never been declared for income tax purposes.

The story broke at the same time the government was introducing VAT legislation, which was touted as a valuable instrument to curb tax evasion. He resigned from Parliament four days later.

Dr Gauci Borda did not want to be drawn into the current controversy when contacted yesterday. But veteran PN sources did remark on the irony that a backbencher at the time had to resign while two Cabinet members sitting next to him, who held substantially larger sums overseas, continued to serve in Parliament for much longer. Former Prime Minister Eddie Fenech Adami, who had appointed Mr Falzon and Mr Zammit to various ministerial posts after 1987, did not want to comment when contacted.

Mr Falzon suspended himself from the PN and the State energy company’s oil procurement committee on Saturday as a result of the story.

PN leader Simon Busuttil has insisted anybody on the Swiss Leaks list would be automatically suspended from the party. Mr Zammit was suspended with immediate effect on Sunday.

The Labour Party told this newspaper that it would take all the necessary action, including suspension, against any person within its ranks “associated with wrongdoing”.

But a spokesman questioned Dr Busuttil’s decision to limit his actions only to Swiss Leaks. “What about other former ministers who admitted to having Swiss bank accounts and failed to declare them? What about other lists that the previous administration failed to pursue?”

‘I never expected this’ – Gonzi

Former Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi has admitted being caught by surprise with revelations that two former Nationalist ministers held undeclared overseas accounts.

“I never expected this, even because during my time, ministers’ declarations were vetted by the Cabinet secretary and any questions would have been flagged,” he told Times of Malta yesterday.

Michael Falzon and Ninu Zammit have been named on a list of HSBC clients who held secret accounts with the bank’s Swiss branch in Geneva.

Mr Zammit had served as minister under Dr Gonzi’s premiership in the first legislature between 2004 and 2008.

Mr Falzon was no longer an MP by then but had contested the 2004 MEP election on behalf of the Nationalist Party. Dr Gonzi said his attention was never drawn to anything untoward by the Cabinet secretary.

Mr Zammit failed to declare the account in his ministerial declaration and admitted regularising his tax position only last year.

Asked whether his trust was breached, Dr Gonzi said it would have if an illegality was perpetrated.

“I do not know all the facts but if there was an illegality it would have been a massive betrayal of the electorate’s and my trust,” he said.

Endorsing the position adopted by PN leader Simon Busuttil, Dr Gonzi said anybody in politics “had a duty to explain matters, especially the source of the funds” to be politically accountable.

kurt.sansone@timesofmalta.com