Former Labour MP Silvio Grixti stopped paying his party membership in 2021, when he resigned from parliament and the parliamentary group, a party spokesperson told Times of Malta on Wednesday.
His clarification came a day after two top Labour Party officials, PL president Ramona Attard and deputy leader Daniel Micallef refused to answer direct questions on whether Grixti was still a member of the party.
Both party officials ignored a question about Grixti's party membership status, then exited the press conference when pressed about the matter.
Just under 24 hours later, a party spokesperson said that Grixti has not been a paid-up member of the party since 2021 when the police started investigating him in connection with a years-long benefit fraud racket.
Grixti, a family doctor and PL MP between 2017 and 2021, was forced to resign months before the 2022 general election.
The PL never provided an official reason for his resignation, but Times of Malta reported that he was interrogated by the police over an investigation into irregular medical sick notes.
Earlier this month, Times of Malta revealed that Grixti is suspected of being at the heart of an extensive benefits scam that saw many millions of euros defrauded from the government.
The scam saw hundreds of people being given forged documents, making them eligible for monthly disability payments.
Aside from Grixti, some beneficiaries have reported that Labour Party canvassers were also involved in the racket and received kickbacks.
Asked if the Labour Party is conducting internal investigations into the matter, Attard said that the police are investigating the case.
"We will wait for those investigations, and we will let those investigations proceed," she said.
The Labour Party has the necessary structures to investigate its members, should it wish to do so.
An organ within the party, the Commission for the Safeguarding of Ethics and Discipline, "has the duty to investigate the behaviour of any member, official, candidate, councillor, member of parliament, or member of the Europen member of parliament," the PL's statute states.
The ethics commission can be asked to investigate or investigate on its own accord, the statute says.
Asked whether the ethics commission has taken any action, Attard repeated that the party will let investigations take their course, and after those investigations, the party can "further their discussions".
In a statement later on Wednesday, the Nationalist Party questioned why Grixti was allowed to continue to take on government consultancies throughout 2022 - after his resignation as an MP.
It described the party's behaviour as "surreal" and "increasingly disgraceful".