Updated 6.15 with Joseph Muscat reaction -

Former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has lashed out at the Nationalist Party after shadow minister Beppe Fenech Adami said the  Egrant magisterial inquiry should be revisited in view of Saturday's arraignments.

Fenech Adami told a press conference that the argument that had been used to dismiss the Egrant inquiry was that the allegations were based on falsified documents. This was the same thing that Nexia BT’s partners Brian Tonna and Karl Cini, the “architects” of the secret companies set up in Panama, including Egrant, had been accused of, among other charges.

“Now we know that the people who set up the Panama companies are facing a number of charges, one of which is the falsification of documents. It is up to the competent authorities to ensure that the inquiry is revisited. It should not be done at the request of the Nationalist Party but ought to be done in the national interest,” Fenech Adami told a press conference on Monday. 

“We know that the architects of Egrant, as well as the Panama companies owned by Keith Schembri and Konrad Mizzi are currently in a prison cell. Schembri’s and Mizzi’s Panama companies were set up to receive money from 17 Black, which is owned by the suspected mastermind in the assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia so yes, the authorities have a duty to revisit the Egrant inquiry,” he said. 

Tonna and Cini were on Saturday charged with money laundering, corruption, submitting false declarations to the authorities, fraud and giving false statements.

Concluded in July 2018, the inquiry over the ownership of secret company Egrant, conducted by then Magistrate Aaron Bugeja had found there was no evidence linking former prime minister Joseph Muscat, his wife Michelle or their family to Egrant Inc.

The magistrate had also concluded that the allegation had been based on documents which contained falsified signatures. 

Forged signatures were verified by a British forensic accounting firm, with the person whose signature was on the declarations, Jaqueline Alexander, also taking an oath stating she had not drafted or signed any such declarations.

Whoever falsified the declarations of trust, the inquiry found, made use of information which was publicly available online, the inquiry had concluded.

Fenech Adami acknowledged that last Saturday’s arraignments were “a small step towards justice” but insisted it was not the Labour government or any of its exponents that had brought this about but two inquiries sought by former Opposition leader Simon Busuttil. 

“Had it not been for Simon Busuttil, no action would have been taken. It is pure political dishonestly for Prime Minister Robert Abela to say these cases happened before he became prime minister. May I remind everyone that the arraignments took place following the conclusion of two inquiries requested by Simon Busuttil into corruption in passport sales and the corruption and money laundering involving Keith Schembri and other people, including (former Allied Newspapers Ltd managing director) Adrian Hillman which started before Labour was elected to power but which continued until 2015, when Schembri was chief of staff at OPM,” he said. 

He also recalled that the government MPs had blocked two motions of no-confidence in Schembri, with Abela voting with government MPs on the second one earlier in this legislature. 

Fenech Adami said action has yet to be taken on other scandals that rocked the government including the sale of three public hospitals to Vitals, the Electrogas power station as well as the wind farms in Montenegro.

Joseph Muscat sees attempt as fresh vindictive act 

In a Facebook reaction, Joseph Muscat said the mask had finally come off and the Nationalist Party had confirmed that it did not believe in the institutions, unless they played its tune. 

He pointed out that the Egrant inquiry had taken months. The magistrate had access to all resources and had also used international expertise. Yet some people did not want to accept the facts which emerged from the inquiry, he said. 

Most importantly, after the evidence of 477 people, it had resulted that somebody had forged documents about Egrant to try and frame him and his family. 

"It is not the truth that the Nationalist Party is after, since the truth is known and proven. What it is trying to do is a fresh vindictive act against my family and me, because it cannot stand the fact I won the people's confidence twice and stopped it from treating the people as personal possessions,as it did for 25 years," Muscat said.

Investigative journalism 'should be protected'

Addressing the same press conference, PN MP Therese Comodini Cachia chastised Abela for continuing to protect officials like Malta Tourism Authority chief Johann Buttigieg.

She said stories about corruption were being exposed by journalists and she insisted that public interest investigative journalism needed to be recognised and protected. 

Comodini Cachia said the PN in opposition will be there to ensure that last Saturday’s arraignments translate into better governance. 

On Sunday, former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat in a reaction to Saturday's developments said that two-and-a-half years on from the Egrant inquiry, he would continue to insist justice was done for the “Egrant lie”, which he described as a falsified story. 

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