That’s exactly why Konrad, Keith and Joseph chose Panama – because Panama doesn’t cooperate with state investigators

The Finance Minister has said that Panama is not cooperating with Malta’s tax authorities. But isn’t that exactly why Konrad Mizzi, Keith Schembri and Joseph Muscat set up their companies there? Otherwise they would have incorporated companies in Malta then trotted along to Joe Bannister and had them registered with the Malta Financial Services Authority.

Joseph Muscat? I hear you ask. Well, yes, obviously – you need to track back to all the brouhaha back in March or April and find a video of a scrum of journalists sticking microphones in his face, and one of them asks him whether he’s got a company in Panama, like his chief of staff and Konrad Mizzi.

Watch how he hesitates before he replies, without conviction but with plenty of awkwardness, with a simple “Le” while turning his face away and moving off. In those fleeting moments when he hesitates, he’s trying to work out whether he can afford to say No. He’s making a split-second assessment of whether the information is likely to emerge or whether somebody has it already.