Former prime minister Joseph Muscat has written to Police Commissioner Angelo Gafa asking that he is called in for questioning over the hospitals' inquiry.
In a Facebook post on Friday, Muscat said he was prepared to answer every question related to the inquiry, as tension mounts over the hospitals debacle.
“I have nothing to hide, and have no qualms with being transparent… I wrote to the police commissioner and told him to call me in as soon as possible and as soon as he has the conclusions of the Attorney General on the hospitals' inquiry, [so I can] answer any question he may have and show the facts,” he said.
“As I already said this is another Egrant (the secret Panama company he was linked to). This is a political vendetta against me and my family. I will remain determined that the truth will come out,” he added.
It emerged on Tuesday that a magisterial inquiry into Muscat and other ministers’ role in the Vitals deal to privatise three state hospitals had been concluded.
Attorney General Victoria Buttigieg is now in the process of analysing the inquiry and the 78 boxes of evidence it involved, to decide whether or not to file criminal charges against people named in it.
Muscat's written request to the police commissioner is superfluous: investigators question criminal suspects of their own accord and do not require any request to do so.
Muscat, who has spent the past year battling the inquiry, described it as a personal “vendetta” and accused the magistrate leading it, Gabriella Vella, of waging war against himself and the Labour Party.
In a press conference on Tuesday, he said: “The institutions are working – working against Labourites.” He also said he had “no doubt” he would face criminal charges as a result of the probe, but said he had nothing to fear.
“If justice exists, I will be a free man and then receive compensation for damages suffered,” he says. “I know I did nothing wrong.”
It is not the first time that Muscat has asked the police commissioner to get involved in the case: last November, in an interview with Labour shill Manuel Cuschieri, he said that he wanted the commissioner to investigate the deal of his own accord.