Court allows Konrad Mizzi to pay €35,000 in tax arrears

Disgraced former minister Konrad Mizzi, currently facing corruption charges, will be allowed to use his seized bank account to pay thousands in outstanding bills, including those owed to the exchequer.

Through a variation to the court order freezing all his assets, the Court has allowed Konrad Mizzi to withdraw some €36,000 from his Bank of Valletta account to be able to settle his tax dues with the tax department.

According to court documents, Mizzi has an outstanding tax bill of over €6,000 and a provisional tax bill for 2024, amounting to another €30,000.

The Court has also declared that Mizzi can start withdrawing money from his frozen bank account to pay the loan mortgage on an apartment he bought in Tigne, Sliema.

Following an application by his lawyers, the Court authorised Mizzi, who is now working as a consultant, mainly to foreign firms, to start withdrawing €1,505 a month to pay his pending home loan, also with Bank of Valletta and another €7,600 for amounts he has in outstanding mortgage payments.

Apart from these payments, the Court said Mizzi could only withdraw €21,945 a year from his frozen accounts for his needs.

Only a few months ago, the amount of funds which those under a freezing order were allowed to withdraw was less than €14,000 a year. The government introduced changes to the law to increase this sum as dozens of politicians and those working close to them were hauled in Court on charges of money laundering and fraud, among others.

This change positively affected many Labour politicians, including disgraced former prime minister Joseph Muscat, Mizzi, and former OPM chief of staff Keith Schembri.

Mizzi, 47, served as minister for energy, health, and tourism in Muscat’s administration until he was forced to resign. With Schembri and others, he was caught setting up an offshore financial vehicle in Panama just a few days after Labour returned to power in 2013.

His wife, Sai Liang Mizzi, who lives abroad, was also appointed Malta’s envoy to Shanghai, her hometown, for three years, with a financial package of €13,000 a month.

Prime Minister Robert Abela served as Mizzi’s consultant when the latter was responsible for the now-defunct Air Malta.