Konrad Mizzi's private audit into his secretive financial set-up does not replace a proper investigation, a member of the European Parliament's Panama Papers committee has told this newspaper. Speaking after Prime Minister Joseph Muscat had addressed the European Parliament last Wednesday, Sven Giegold said the only audit or investigation that counted was that carried out by the government's anti-money-laundering agency, the FIAU. (The agency has not published the results of the investigation, as it is prohibited by law from doing so). The MEP, who forms part of the Green Party, said that normally a state should not accept a private audit firm to replace a proper investigation. Both Mr Mizzi and the Prime Minister's chief of staff, Keith Schembri, last year hired an international audit firm to review their Panama set-up. Dr Muscat has placed much emphasis on the audit by assuring it would reveal "all the facts". However, Finance Minister Edward Scicluna recently admitted that Panama was not even cooperating with the local tax authorities in their own Panama Papers investigations. This throws into doubt how a private audit firm can realistically penetrate Panama's cast iron...
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