Caruana Galizia, Keith Schembri, Konrad Mizzi in fresh claims and denials

The Prime Minister's Chief of Staff insisted this evening that he and his companies never received, dealt with, or otherwise had any form of commercial relation with any Azerbaijani interests, amid fresh claims made by Daphne Caruana Galizia. Keith Schembri insisted there was no relation with Al Sahra FZCO, Leyla Aliyeva, any member of Ilham Aliyev’s family, or any other Azerbaijani national or person with interests in Azerbaijan. In a blog post, Ms Caruana Galizia claimed that a company owned by Leyla Aliyeva, one of the two daughters of Ilham Aliyev, ruler of Azerbaijan, transferred very large sums of money, described as “loan payments” last year to Hearnville Inc, Tillgate Inc and Egrant Inc, the three companies named in the Panama Papers. Ms Caruana Galizia said the company, which is incorporated in Dubai's free zone, is called Al Sahra FZCO, and Ms Aliyeva is the ultimate beneficial owner. The payments, she said, were made through Al Sahra FZCO’s account at Pilatus Bank. Mr Schembri said Tillgate Inc has never had a bank account anywhere in the world, never traded or ever received any funds or entered into any commercial relationship. The company has been audited...