Ninu Zammit suspended from Nationalist Party

Simon Busuttil has released a statement to all media saying that Ninu Zammit is suspended from the Nationalist Party. Zammit was named this morning by The Malta Independent as one of two former energy/power station/infrastructure ministers who did not deny outright having a bank account in Switzerland and at HSBC Geneva, the bank at the heart of the ongoing scandal, in particular.

All other ministers contacted by The Malta Independent made their position clear immediately: no bank account in Switzerland at all (caveat re Austin Gatt’s inherited account at UBS).

While Michael Falzon admitted to it after some fudging, Ninu Zammit neither confirmed nor denied and instead got angry at the journalist who rang him.

Ninu Zammit was PS for Water & Energy from 1987 straight through to 1996. As PS, he reported directly to Infrastructure Minister Michael Falzon. Frank Sammut, who is undergoing trial for corruption in the purchase of oil by the state monopoly, is Zammit’s ‘creature’. It was Zammit who gave him his appointment back in 1987.

Sammut has faced corruption allegations in connection to kickbacks and bribes paid to Ninu Zammit, his company or his brother at least twice since 1993 (see the story in The Malta Independent).

After the 1998 election, Zammit was promoted to a ministerial position and given the portfolio of Agriculture & Fisheries, which he held until the 2003 election. Between 2003 and 2008, he was Minister for Resources, not responsible for Enemalta Corporation but responsible for the energy regulator.

In 2008 he was returned to parliament but Lawrence Gonzi did not re-appoint him to his cabinet. He was left on the backbench for the next five years and just a few weeks before the general election he made a personal announcement that he would not be standing for election again.