PN Deputy leader Simon Busuttil said this morning that Labour was playing dirty when it tried to link Austin Gatt's Swiss Bank account with the oil procurement scandal.
Replying to questions during a press conference, Dr Busuttil said that Dr Gatt had already explained his position with regard to the account.
This was a 40-year-old account started by the minister's father and then inherited by the minister's mother and then the minister.
The minister had included this account in his ministerial declaration of assets up to 2005. There had been no transactions in this account and it was dirty of the PL to try to link this with the oil procurement scandal when, at the same time, it claimed it wanted to clean up politics.
Furthermore, there were also several Labour MPs who had not included all their assets in their declarations.
COMMISSIONS
On the investigation of commissions, Dr Busuttil said receiving a commission did not automatically mean corruption.
The police immediately investigated all corruption and all payments which could mean corruption.
PARLIAMENTARY HONORARIA
Asked about the parliamentary honoraria which ministers had taken, Dr Busuttil restated his position that the method how the ministers had started receiving their ministerial honoraria was wrong and things should have been handled differently. He noted that the ministers had reimbursed the money.
GEORGE FARRUGIA AND TAX COMPLIANCE REVIEW
Reacting to a question about an investigation by the Tax Compliance Union of possible tax evasion by George Farrugia (the person granted a presidential pardon on the oil procurement case), Dr Busuttil said that on receiving a report, the Finance Ministry immediately sent it to the Tax Compliance Unit. He did not know if the file was handed to the police and did not expect to know, more so as he was not part of the government.
Questioned how a link had been found between George Farrugia and a fiduciary company, Dr Busuttil referred to a statement by the Ministry of Finance yesterday in the wake of a story in The Sunday Times and comments by Joseph Muscat.
The ministry had explained how it received claims of under-declaration by Aikon Ltd. The claims were not linked to acts or corruption.
The ministry said it passed on the information to the Tax Compliance Unit. The shareholder and director of Aikon Ltd turned out to be a fiduciary company, Intershore Fiduciary Services Ltd and therefore, from the information given to the ministry, no connection was found with George Farrugia.