Health & Energy Minister’s income tax returns have been requested – the Speaker delays on request

At least one newspaper has requested the Health & Energy Minister’s income tax returns for 2012, 2013 and 2014 through its editor as permitted under the Income Tax Management Act for members of parliament and other politically exposed persons (PEPs).

The request was made to the Speaker of the House almost a week ago, as soon as the story broke, but delaying tactics are being used. It is not clear whether the Speaker has the returns in his possession and is delaying passing them on to the newspaper, or whether he has not yet been supplied with the returns by the Commissioner of Revenue.

When The Malta Independent requested the Speaker for the income tax returns of Michael Falzon and Ninu Zammit during the Swiss Leaks scandal, the Speaker provided them within three days maximum, even though they were far more numerous because it involved two people over many years in parliament and the returns had been archived because they were many years old.