PANAMA PAPERS: Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri tried to open secret bank accounts in Dubai and Panama

The Financial Review reports tonight that the Panama companies and New Zealand trusts set up by the Maltese prime minister’s chief of staff and his energy minister were to be linked to a secret Dubai bank account, but problems arose because both are politically exposed persons. The same newspaper also reports, having seen the relevant documents, that a bank in Panama also turned down a request to open accounts for Keith Schembri’s and Konrad Mizzi’s Panamanian operations because they are PEPs and there was controversy and suspicion surrounding some of their activities.

The Financial Review published its story in the immediate wake of the Panama Papers revelations tonight by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, which for the last year has been working on more than 11 million documents leaked from Mossack Fonseca in Panama, together with 107 media organisations in 78 countries.

Read the full story below.