Beleaguered Miinister Konrad Mizzi last night admitted that the trust he set up in New Zealand was not registered with the Commissioner of Inland Revenue as required by the law.
Speaking on national television, the minister said that his advisers were not aware of the provision.
The issue had been brought up in Parliament by former Finance Minister Tonio Fenech, who said on Tuesday that Minister Mizzi broke the law when he did not declare the trust to the tax commissioner.
Minister Mizzi said that his advisers, Nexia BT, had advised him to set up his trust in New Zealand and to set up a company in Panama.
He added that on seeking further legal advice to "make sure I had done nothing wrong", he was told that there was a notification in a legal notice obliging him to notify the tax commissioner.
Minister Mizzi said that this information was not available on the Income Tax Department website, but once it became known to him that it existed, he told his advisers to rectify his position.
Mr Fenech had said in Parliament that a trust needed to be registered with the Inland Revenue Department within 30 days, but Minister Mizzi had failed to comply with this section of the law.
During the TV programme, Minister Mizzi said that he had invested 92 euros in his Panama company.
from The Malta Independent http://ift.tt/1RrfVyP
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