Court allows Konrad Mizzi to settle more tax arrears from frozen accounts

The Court has authorised disgraced former energy minister Konrad Mizzi to draw on frozen bank accounts to settle more than €15,000 in outstanding tax liabilities, according to a recent variation of a freezing order.

The court granted one-off permission for Mizzi to use funds held at Bank of Valletta to pay a total of €15,805 in unpaid taxes for the past year. The largest portion – €10,759 – relates to value-added tax, implying declared earnings of roughly €60,000 from consultancy services provided in 2025.

The former minister was also allowed to settle €4,245 in outstanding social security contributions and €861 in provisional tax.

Tax consultants told The Shift that the lower provisional tax payments suggest a marked decline in Mizzi’s income compared with the period immediately following his resignation from government.

In earlier variation orders issued in 2025, the court had already permitted Mizzi to pay €16,000 in provisional income tax for 2025 and a further €30,000 relating to 2024.

The Tax consultant opined that the reduced tax obligations point to falling demand for the consultancy services offered by Mizzi, once one of the most powerful figures in the cabinet of disgraced former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat.

Mizzi, now 48, resigned from cabinet in 2019 amid a series of scandals linked to controversial multi-million-euro deals struck during the Muscat administration.

Under the direction of Muscat and his then chief of staff, Keith Schembri, Mizzi played a central role in negotiating major public contracts later criticised by the National Audit Office and, in some cases, declared fraudulent by the courts – including the 30-year concession for the privatisation of three state hospitals.

He also featured prominently in the Panama Papers revelations, which showed that Mizzi and Schembri had opened secret companies in Panama just a few days after Labour was swept to power in 2013. Investigators alleged these structures were intended to receive funds linked to corrupt commissions. Joseph Muscat has consistently denied claims that a third offshore company, Egrant, belonged to him or his wife.

Mizzi, together with Muscat and Schembri, is currently facing criminal proceedings on charges including money laundering, corruption and misappropriation of public funds. He has pleaded not guilty.