PANAMA PAPERS: Konrad Mizzi releases a statement – and carries on lying

He says that he has been proved right: that he has no bank accounts. But it was not for want of trying, was it. He tried to open an account at a bank in Dubai, and then he tried to open one at a bank in Panama, and in both cases the bank refused because of his status as the energy minister of a European Union member state.

The fact that he tried to open secret bank accounts in Dubai and Panama, and that the source of revenue was given to the banks as “management consultancy and brokerage”, is clear evidence of criminal intent. Had the banks not shied away because of his PEP status, he would have at least one of those bank accounts, in Dubai or Panama, today.

It was not Konrad Mizzi who shied away from crime. It was the banks.

“Brokerage?” “Management consultancy?” Kif ma jisthux. This is classic money-laundering-speak for a 10% kickback or graft. What sort of brokerage does a cabinet minister do. Or a Prime Minister’s chief of staff.