Former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat reacted with defiance on Tuesday after NGO Repubblika filed a complaint asking the police to investigate him over payments he received shortly after his stepping down.
Times of Malta on Sunday revealed how Muscat was wired €60,000 in “consultancy fees” from a Swiss company which received millions from Steward Healthcare, the US company that has a concession to run three state hospitals. The sum was paid to Muscat just a few months after his resignation.
Times of Malta also reported on Tuesday that the police would not say if an investigation into the payment was under way, but sources said that the magistrate carrying out the VGH inquiry is “looking into” the €60,000 consultancy fees.
Insisting that the NGO is employing two weights, two measures, Muscat said there can be all the necessary investigations since he had nothing to hide.
"It seems that those making accusations against me are implying that because I carried out work abroad for a company that could have had connections with interests in Malta, this amounts to corruption. This when the assignments I carried out have nothing to do with the Maltese government," he said in a Facebook post.
"Using the same benchmark, I cannot understand how nobody ever protested against other people. For example, Dr Austin Gatt, who after stepping down from his ministerial post took up roles in a group of companies that has a direct relation with at least two entities that were under his direct responsibility for many years. Or Tonio Fenech, who was responsible for financial services for many years but then gave services to companies in the financial services sector. Or Claudio Grech, who was part of the ministry which negotiated Smart City on behalf of the Maltese Government and then was appointed CEO of Smart City. This to mention only a few, and without going in the realm of legal services.
"But there are clearly two weights and two measures"
He said the authorities "should do their job according to the rules, which include us not getting to know what is going on through particular channels, since it undermines trust in the system".