MBR_ISSUE 38_LowRes

Malta Business Review
SPOTLIGHT
BBC INTERVIEW TEARS INTO PM CALLING
HIM ‘ARTFUL DODGER OF EUROPE’,
‘PASSPORT-SELLER-IN-CHIEF’
BY HELENA GRECH
Prime Minister Joseph Muscat
fielded difficult questions from BBC
Newsnight’s James Sweeney where
he was described as the “Artful
Dodger of Europe” and the “passportseller-in-chief”.
A feature was carried on the BBC programme
about the brutal assassination of journalist
Daphne Caruana Galizia. Her life was tragically
and deliberately snuffed out on 16 October in
a car bomb just metres away from her Bidnija
residence.
So far, three men stand charged with the
crime however the open secret on many
people’s lips is who had them carry out the
deed when considering that Caruana Galizia
had not written about them.
Muscat was grilled about the sale of passports,
a controversial scheme introduced by his
government whereby individuals can pay
for a property, reside in Malta for a year and
pay a lump sum of €650,000 in exchange for
a Maltese passport and Maltese citizenship.
In view of Malta’s status as an EU member
state this effectively buys a customer free
movement across the 27 nation bloc. In the
interview, Muscat refuted the assertion that
wealth and wealth alone can buy a person
Maltese citizenship.
He was also grilled about his relationship with
the Azeri ruling family, in view of allegations
made by Caruana Galizia, that are still to be
thrashed out in court, that Muscat’s wife is the
UBO of a Panama company named Egrant.
She also alleged that the Azeri dictator’s
daughter, Leyla Aliyeva, had transferred €1
million to Egrant via a bank account Mrs
Muscat held at Pilatus Bank, Ta’ Xbiex. All
involved have denied wrongdoing while a
magisterial inquiry is under way.
In an interview with Sweeney Muscat said
the assassination affected him “badly”. He
said that Caruana Galizia was one of his most
“vociferous” critic, meaning that her brutal
murder cast a dark shadow on the Muscat
administration. “This does not look good on
me, I am very realistic about this”, he said.
He went on to say that besides her family, “if
anybody has suffered from her death it’s us
[the government]”.
Asked about what he was doing a week after
the assassination, the Muscat said he could
not remember with a sleight of sarcasm, upon
which Sweeney reminded the Prime Minister
that he was away “selling” passports. Muscat
took umbrage at this line of questioning,
saying that “we do not sell. We, as other
European countries, have a system which is
transparent and open, allowing people to
invest in our country and gain citizenship”.
Asked who is buying the passports, he said that
wealthy people do but that it is not just about
wealth. The presenter did not appear to be
too convinced. Sweeney also asked about the
Muscat’s relationship with Azerbaijan’s ruling
family, the Aliyevs. Muscat claimed to have met
Azeri dictator Ilham Aliyev on a few occations
in Baku and when attending EU Eastern
partnership summits. He also said that “Mrs
Aliyeva” came to Malta to meet Mrs Muscat
once, “nothing more”. “I do not think you can
hide a million dollars, or a hundred dollars.
Definitely not in a bank or anywhere else”.
Asked if Malta has a problem with money
laundering, Muscat said he does not feel
comfortable to say yes or no, but that the
country has a problem with it in the same
way that “Luxembourg, the city of London
or the Netherlands”. Muscat went on to say
that he has been put in a very uncomfortable
situation for needing to criticise someone
who has been brutally murdered (Daphne
Caruana Galizia). “I hope we are not in a
situation where we are in any democracy,
situations are such where when somebody
writes something on social media it’s taken
as fact.”
Sweeney stressed that she (Daphne Caruana
Galizia) had evidence to what she said, adding
that Muscat may not agree with that evidence,
but it did exist. He was referring to accounts
relayed to the slain journalist by a Russian
whistle-blower who worked at Pilatus Bank but
left over a dispute. Muscat promptly disagreed,
saying there is no “proof” or a shred of “truth”
to the allegations. “If there is a whiff of any
evidence I would resign on the spot”.
Muscat said that he does not know if Caruana
Galizia knew that the allegations were untrue,
whether she was part of the creating the
story or it was fed to her, and repeatedly said
that there is no shred of truth to the claims.
Sweeney said that many people have
described him as the “Artful dodger of
Europe”, to which Muscat refuted. MBR
Credit: BBC; The Malta Independent
All rights reserved - Copyright 2018
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