The man leading one of the firms tasked with Steward's campaign to smear Chris Fearne and others had been invited to Malta by Joseph Muscat's government in 2015, Arnold Cassola said on Wednesday.
The independent MEP candidate said one of CT Group’s founders - Sir Lynton Crosby - had been invited to speak at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting hosted by Malta nine years ago.
"In 2015, [Joseph] Muscat’s government invited Sir Lynton Crosby - the hatchet man running CT - to speak at CHOGM’s business forum," Cassola said.
He described Crosby in disparaging terms.
"Shocking! Yet another figure championed by Muscat turns out to be most probably delinquent. For being such a sharp politician, Muscat sure seems to be a poor judge of character. Or perhaps he was spot on and delinquents are what he intended to attract."
On Monday, Times of Malta reported that according to leaked corporate records, Steward Health Care funded a campaign to smear the former health minister through “fake” corruption claims.
The campaign was part of a €6.5 million secret operation to target Steward's perceived opponents, in Malta and abroad.
The records were obtained by OCCRP and shared with Times of Malta and the Boston Globe.
Crosby's CT Group was one of two intelligence firms the company used to carry out that work, according to emails, encrypted messages, and financial records. The other was Audere International.
Both companies insist they never broke the law in the course of their work.
Fearne has since asked the police to investigate and prosecute those behind the "€6 million frame-up" against him, while Carmen Ciantar, one of his top aides who was also targeted for bad press, demanded answers about the campaign that forced her suspension from the Foundation for Medical Services.
Prime Minister Robert Abela has said that the government will seek to recoup money Steward spent on the campaign through an ongoing international arbitration process over the terminated hospitals deal.
On Wednesday, Cassola said Fearne probably regretted having allowed his boss [Muscat] free rein to invite "all sorts of international scum to plunder our country".
Perhaps, he added, this was Fearne's "chance at redemption".