The following are the top stories in Malta's newspapers on Tuesday.

Times of Malta reports that the police will not say if an investigation into payments received by former prime minister Joseph Muscat is under way, but sources told the newspaper that the magistrate carrying out the VGH inquiry is “looking into” the €60,000 “consultancy fees”.

The newspaper also reports a complaint by a cleaning company after the Education Ministry binned the tendering procedure for a new contract, citing urgency stemming from the Covid pandemic. 

The Malta Independent says the government spent more than €75,000 on a conference to announce plans for a metro. 

L-orizzont leads with the announcement by the Gozo minister that the airstrip at the Gozo heliport is to be extended to handle light aircraft. It also prominently reports that demolition and excavation works have to stop by 4pm. 

In-Nazzjon says ministers have remained silent over revelations of consultancy payments given to Joseph Muscat by a company close to hospital operators VGH. It also reports that in Gozo, elderly people have been put in the same wards as COVID-19 patients.