The Malta Independent content director Pierre Portelli this afternoon presented evidence in court which he says proves anti-money laundering investigators had suspicions that Minister Konrad Mizzi took kickbacks related to the privatisation of Enemalta.

Giving a statement outside court, Mr Portelli said that he had handed over the evidence, parts of which had already been reported in The Malta Independent, to Magistrate Aaron Bugeja, who is investigating claims that Panama company Egrant is owned by the Prime Minister’s wife.

READ: Mizzi denies impropriety in Enemalta deal

 “The evidence shows that there were transactions in the companies of both Keith Schembri and Konrad Mizzi. The report also mentions the Pilatus Bank CEO, where it is stated that Nexia BT’s Karl Cini had passed along an envelope to the CEO.

“The report also remarks that it is unusual for a bank’s CEO to open accounts and therefore I felt that all this had enough relevance to be included in the inquiry,” Mr Portelli said.

He added that he passed on four pages out of a report of 120 pages, which pages he was sharing with other media houses, adding that he had no information as to whether the magistrate would be calling a separate inquiry to investigate the case.

Mr Portelli added that he had also informed the magistrate of other information passed to him by his source via word of mouth. 

He said he had chosen to share the FIAU report pages with other media houses after Dr Mizzi yesterday issued a statement where he “twisted an FIAU statement released at midnight on Friday”.

“Minister Konrad Mizzi yesterday issued a long statement suggested that the FIAU report does not exist. As journalists, you can understand the frustration when a public official tries to discredit what you say, so I decided to circulate the report,” Mr Portelli said.