Lawyers representing Malta's interests in an international arbitration process over the terminated hospitals deal will look into claims of a Steward campaign to smear Chris Fearne, Robert Abela has pledged.

On Monday, Times of Malta reported that according to leaked corporate records, Steward Health Care funded a campaign to smear the former health minister through “fake” corruption claims.

Steward allocated costs for its spy operations to its Malta budget, which was primarily funded by taxpayers under the €90-million-euro per year hospitals' contract.

The records were obtained by OCCRP and shared with Times of Malta and the Boston Globe. 

Hours after the relevations, the prime minister reassured reporters outside parliament had always trusted Fearne.

Challenged by reporters about a speech in parliament last year in which he appeared to defend Steward, Abela said that on that day he had merely highlighted the work the company had carried out in Malta.

During a tumultuous parliamentary session in March of last year, Abela had defended the government’s actions in the wake of the collapse of the fraudulent hospitals deal and had highlighted the work carried out by Steward over the years.

On Monday he insisted he had not defended Steward, and had no intention to do so, "especially if what was reported today is true".

On the contrary, he would be asking lawyers seeking to recoup funds handed to Steward for which no services were provided, to look into the claims revealed and recover any funds used for the smear campaign.