Updated 11.05pm - Darmanin Demajo responds

A total of 714 companies linked to Malta are listed on the Panama Papers database launched tonight by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.  

The list includes companies dating back decades, with several having since been dissolved.

Among those mentioned are former Nationalist minister Ninu Zammit, who is listed as a shareholder in a company dissolved in November 2015, and Malta Football Association president Norman Darmanin Demajo, who is listed as a shareholder in three companies. Two became inactive in 2010 while a third remains active. 

In statement to the Times of Malta, Mr Darmanin Demajo played down his involvement.

"I’m an accountant by profession and I am and have been a director and shareholder in various companies," he said. 

He noted that the companies had been opened when he was practicing his profession and not involved in MFA affairs.

“These companies are registered for perfectly legal reasons, and have nothing to do with laundering illicit gain, evading taxes, or hiding corruption money or commission.

“Any income earned from services provided to these companies falls within the income of my Maltese company and are subject to yearly audit and fully taxed in Malta.” He said in a Facebook post that he would be happy to subject himself to a tax investigation to prove his claims. 

Former Minister Ninu Zammit had already fallen foul of a previous ICIJ investigation, which had revealed he held €3.2m in a secret Swiss bank account. He used a tax amnesty to regularise his position and was subsequently suspended from the PN.

Farsons chairman Louis Farrugia is listed as an intermediary of Petrofina Holdings, a firm which opened back in 1984 and was dissolved in 2005.

In a statement this evening, Mr Farrugia said that the firm had been declared to the Central Bank and was intended to house a UK property.

"In 1985, I purchased an apartment in London at a time when my young family was seriously considering the possibility of moving to the UK. I was advised at the time by a reputable London firm of solicitors to own the property through a Panamanian company. The company was never used for any other purpose.

"I do not own any shares in any overseas company nor have any beneficial interest in any overseas trust," said Mr Farrugia, who is also an Allied Newspapers director. He joined the Allied board well after his offshore firm had been dissolved. 

Nexia BT, the local firm at the heart of Malta's Panamanian scandal, serves as an intermediary for 14 companies listed in the database. Other companies have served for many more, with Bald Eagle Services' 189 registered companies topping the list. 

Malta ranks in the top eight EU states with the highest number of offshore entities included. The UK leads the list, with 17,973. Luxembourg is second with 10,877, followed by Cyprus, Latvia, Ireland, Spain, Estonia and then Malta.

The 714 Maltese companies were opened by a total of 49 intermediaries. 

It is important to note that being listed on the database is not an indication of criminal activity. Intermediaries, which can include banks, law firms or accountants, serve as middle men in the process of setting up an offshore company.

Aside from Nexia BT and the previously-mentioned Bald Eagle Services, Malta-listed intermediaries include FZD-Trustee & Fiduciary Services Limited, previously linked to Nationalist MP Francis Zammit Dimech and EMD, a financial services firm where Richard Cachia Caruana, who served as Malta's Permanent Representative to the EU in the previous legislature, is a consultant.

Nexia BT lies at the heart of these 14 firms. Photo: ICIJ

Of the Nexia BT companies in the graph above, Hearnville Inc. is the company owned by Minister Konrad Mizzi. Tillgate Inc. belongs to the Prime Minister’s chief of staff Keith Schembri. Egrant Inc. is the mystery third company opened by Nexia BT at the same time as Dr Mizzi and Mr Schembri opened theirs.

Selson Holdings was opened by Malcolm Scerri, the managing director of Mr Schembri’s company. The Australian Financial Review has linked Blue Sea Portfolio to construction magnate Pierre Sladden. Lester Holdings was allegedly opened by Adrian Hillman, the former managing director of Allied Group, which publishes Times of Malta.

Many of the documents that form part of the Panama Papers leak were opened up to the broader public as part of a searchable database this evening. 

The ICIJ database comprises millions of documents about more than 200,000 entities Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca has worked for over the past 39 years. 

Malta ranks in the top eight EU states with the highest number of offshore entities included in the list.

Information includes the shareholders, directors and beneficiaries of named companies - although the ICIJ has made it clear that not all the information it received will be made public (see below). 

Mossack Fonseca are a law firm specialising in offshore services. They are believed to have around 300,000 clients worldwide, and have offices in 42 - though it might be 41 now - countries. They have been described as the fourth biggest provider of offshore services in the world.

The law firm have strenuously denied any wrongdoing, as have many of the people implicated by the Panama Papers. These have included UK Prime Minister David Cameron, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Argentinian President Mauricio Macri.

Barcelona football star Lionel Messi, Hong Kong film legend Jackie Chan and Spanish movie director Pedro Almodovar have also been named. 

Iceland's Prime Minister Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson resigned after being implicated in the scandal, as did Spanish minister Jose Manuel Soria. 

Closer to home, Minister Konrad Mizzi and the Prime Minister's chief of staff Keith Schembri have been implicated. So too has Adrian Hillman, the former managing director of Allied Group, which publishes Times of Malta. 

Dr Mizzi has resigned as Labour Party deputy leader but held on to his cabinet post, while Mr Schembri has been kept on, with the Prime Minister saying he still enjoys his trust. Mr Hillman stepped aside following allegations of impropriety, and Allied Group have appointed former European Court of Human Rights judge Giovanni Bonello to lead an investigation into the claims. 

All three men deny any wrongdoing. 

Can I assume that anyone listed in the documents released today is a criminal?

No, certainly not. Although there are many reasons a criminal would want to open an offshore company, there are legitimate reasons to open one too. Not to mention, an offshore company listed in the Panama Papers might well have been registered with local tax authorities.

Will governments ever be able to get to the bottom of this?

Maybe. The ICIJ makes it clear that it is not interested in collaborating with law enforcement or governments. But its source, 'John Doe', is more ambivalent. Earlier this week, they published a statement in which they indicated that they would be willing to ""cooperate with law enforcement to the extent that I am able."

Is the ICIJ publishing all the information it obtained from Mossack Fonseca's 'John Doe'?

No. The ICIJ has only published a selection of documents related to the 214,000 companies that have been on Mossack Fonseca’s books over the past 40 years. 

So what's missing?

The ICIJ has said that the database will not include records of bank accounts and financial transactions, emails and other correspondence, passports and telephone numbers.

Why don't they make all the documents public?

The ICIJ has made a very conscious decision to act as a gatekeeper for the sensitive information that comes into its possession. Much like journalists at any other reputable media house, ICIJ journalists must determine that a piece of information is in the public interest before releasing it.

This choice contrasts sharply with Wikileaks, which always releases information handed to it en masse - albeit after it has been checked by Wikileaks staff to ensure its authenticity.