Maltese PM pledges to dismiss officials with secret Swiss bank accounts

Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat pledged on Monday that any officials found to have, or formerly have, an undeclared Swiss bank account would be removed from their position, reported local newspaper The Malta Independent.

"In the event that someone is found to have held an undeclared overseas account, they will be removed," said Muscat.

It was the first time since the revelations eight days ago of Michael Falzon and Ninu Zammit, two former Nationalist Party ministers who had undeclared Swiss bank accounts, that the prime minister made such a strong declaration.

Muscat said Falzon's apology for evading tax is important but it does not excuse everything. He said "investigations will still have to continue."

However, the apology also showed that Falzon did "the gentlemanly thing," Muscat added.

Falzon apologized unreservedly last week after admitting he held an undeclared Swiss bank account with 460,000 euros (about 515,000 U.S. dollars). He evaded tax on his payoffs when he was Parliamentary member and minister.

He stepped down from the Nationalist Party and Enemalta's fuel procurement committee, to which he was appointed by the Labour Party government.

Falzon and Zammit's names appeared on a list of leaked Swiss bank accounts held with HSBC. Enditem