Konrad Mizzi to be “invited” to testify before European Parliament committee

The Times of Malta reported yesterday that Konrad Mizzi will be “invited” to appear before the European Parliament’s Panama Papers inquiry committee.

The committee, which was constituted last Wednesday, will investigate contraventions and maladministration in the application by the European Commission or Member States of EU laws on money laundering, tax avoidance and tax evasion in connection with secret offshore accounts and companies. The situation was triggered by the massive revelations in the Panama Papers.

The Times of Malta spoke to the European People’s Party, the largest group in the European Parliament, which said that one of the committee’s first tasks is to decide on who to “invite” to testify.

spokesman said one of the committee’s first tasks would be deciding on who to invite to testify.

“Inviting Konrad Mizzi to testify before the Panama inquiry committee will definitely be one of the suggestions MEPs will make. Here in the European Parliament we are very aware of the case of Konrad Mizzi,” a spokesman for the EPP told the newspaper. The EPP is pressing for an end to secrecy about real company ownership, which means an end to nominees, fiduciary services which conceal ownership, and secret registries.

“Nobody can explain why it should be a secret who owns a company. If somebody founds a company – be it in Europe, Panama or elsewhere – there must be no secrecy about it. A real entrepreneur is not ashamed of what he does,” the EPP said.