Malta Labour MEPs said today they were against any investigations into whether Nexia BT, the accountancy firm belong to the prime minister’s accountant Brian Tonna, complied with money laundering regulations.
This in spite of the fact that such investigation was called by the PANA committee that investigated and reported on the fall-out in Europe from the Panama papers scandal.
Nexia BT is alleged to have breached several money laundering laws facilitating the setting up of secret off-shore accounts including for Keith Schembri and Konrad Mizzi.
In spite of these suspicions, Alfred Sant today explicitly stated in reply to a question from me that these should not be investigated.
He was accompanied at the event by Marlene Mizzi and Miriam Dalli who agreed with Alfred Sant with silent nodded approval.
Here again Malta’s socialist MEPs break away from their socialist colleagues and all other MEPs speaking today from all political families. Rule of law means that a politician should never express the view against investigations of a suspected crime. Such a view demonstrates the controlling influence of politics in Malta over the supposedly independent enforcement of our laws.
If Nexia BT is suspected of breaking the law, what Alfred Sant thinks about it is irrelevant. Such a suspicion must invariably be investigated with the full force of the law and the complete autonomy of the institutions.
Once more Labour, through its most senior speakers and officials, confirms the rule of law in Malta has broken down and people suspected of crime but in the inside network of the prime minister are protected from independent judicial action by political interference.