Prime Minister awaiting PANA committee conclusions, says it’s up to Police Commissioner to decide whether an investigation should be launched
Muscat says decision to investigate Konrad Mizzi lies with Police Commissioner
Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said he would wait for the conclusions of the European Parliament’s PANA Committee investigation into the Panama Papers scandal and not comment on statements made by individual members of the committee.
He also said that it was up to the Police Commissioner to decide whether an investigation should be launched.
Muscat said a statement made by PANA committee chairman Werner Langen – that the case involving OPM minister Konrad Mizzi was a “textbook case of money laundering” – was not the only statement made on Monday and he would thus wait for the committee’s conclusion.
According to Muscat, Langen’s was “one of many statements made”, which he said, included many supporting Mizzi.
Muscat was responding to questions put to him by MaltaToday, following a visit to Enemalta’s head office in Marsa, for which he was accompanied by Konrad Mizzi.
He said that he would wait for an official pronouncement by the committee but noted other statements by other committee members painted a different picture.
“That statement was made after the meeting in a press conference during which I also heard other statements claiming no evidence had been found,” Muscat said.
“And I heard the committee’s co-rapporteur state that Mizzi had given a clear and concise statement that the committee could accept.”
The prime minister said it was not up to him to determine whether a police investigation should be launched, but up to the Police Commissioner. He insisted that the government “does not interfere” in decisions taken by the police.
