All transactions that Keith Schembri was involved in while chief of staff at the Office of the Prime Minister must be reviewed, ADPD said on Friday following court testimony implicating him in $5.5 million in bribes over a single deal.

“What exactly went on while Schembri was in office as the Chief of Staff, handpicked by Joseph Muscat? We deserve to know,” the party said.

“We call for an immediate root and branch review of all transactions that Schembri was involved in while Chief of Staff. We have a right to know whether we have been swindled by Schembri's cronies for the benefit of a select few.”

Schembri served as chief of staff to prime minister Joseph Muscat between 2013 and 2019. He now stands accused of corruption, forgery, money laundering and other crimes over transactions during his time in office as well as bribes he allegedly paid to two executives of Progress Press.

A court on Friday heard a police inspector describe how Schembri, his business partner and the two executives had siphoned money out of deals to sell printing machinery to Progress Press, overcharging the company $6.5 million over-and-above the profit already factored into the sales.  

Those deals dated back to before 2010, when Schembri was a private businessman. His time as chief of staff would go on to be charactered by allegations of corruption, including revelations in the 2016 Panama Papers that he had owned a secret offshore structure weeks after entering office.

In the statement, ADPD chairperson Carmel Cacopardo noted that Schembri’s Progress Press deal had occurred before he had a say in major deals as the OPM chief of staff.

“However the accountants and advisors who sat on the adjudicating panels or even sat on boards approving major projects on behalf of the government and the public, are the same individuals who today stand accused of supporting Schembri's criminal scheme,” Cacopardo said.