Bernard Grech has said he has "absolute trust" in Toni Bezzina, after Prime Minister Robert Abela claimed that the PN MP does not show up for work at his government job. 

"I have complete trust, they have assured me that they do their work as they should," Opposition leader Grech said when asked about Bezzina.

Grech said it was clear this was another deviation tactic by the Labour government and in the mould of similar, previous smears made against fellow PN MP Karol Aquilina and former MP and minister Giovanna Debono. 

"It is clear that when Labour finds itself with its back to the wall, it tries to distract attention by smearing others," he said.

Labour raised questions about Bezzina and his work attendance as it fought back against a scandal involving two members of Robert Abela's cabinet, tourism minister Clayton Bartolo and Gozo minister Clint Camilleri.

Both are facing pressure to resign after the commissioner for standards in public life concluded that they had abused their power when they gave Batolo's then-girlfriend (now wife) a highly paid consultancy job. 

The Nationalist Party's call for the two ministers' resignations have been particularly loud. 

In a Sunday Times of Malta interview last week, the prime minister alleged that Bezzina was pocketing a state salary without doing the work. 

"Toni Bezzina is employed with the Public Works Department and receives an annual salary of €51,000. Yet, consistently, he fails to attend his workplace and provides no service," Abela said. 

Former OPM official Neville Gafa' has also filed a complaint to the Standards Commissioner on Bezzina and other PN MPs who hold public sector jobs. 

Speaking on Wednesday evening, Grech said he had full confidence in his MPs. 

"There are opposition MPs who work in the private sector, and others who work in the public sector. All have their own arrangements and they all tell me that they fulfill their work obligations," he said. 

"Let’s say it was true," Grech said of the accusations. "Why didn’t the government take disciplinary action? After all, it is Labour ministers who lead the public entities where these MPs work." 

"That shows that they are only doing this to deviate attention," he said. "They want to imply that all politicians and parties are the same. And it’s not the case."

Grech said he would not speculate on what he would do if standards probes into Bezzina and other PN MPs employed with the state were to find them in breach.

“The only thing I know for sure is that the standards commissioner found that both Clayton Bartolo and Clint Camilleri breached ethics. I expect the standards committee’s Labour members to vote to approve the report.”

The committee is due to meet on Thursday afternoon at 4pm to discuss the report into Bartolo and Camilleri's abuse of power.