Joseph Muscat has claimed to be the victim of a "concerted attack" and says he does not fear arrest.
Reacting to reports about suspect payments linked to a firm that used to be called VGH Europe, Muscat dismissed it as an attack from "the usual suspects".
A joint investigation by Times of Malta, OCCRP and The Shift News revealed how the former prime minister is under the microscope in a corruption investigation into the deal to privatise three state hospitals.
Muscat's finances are being probed as part of an investigation into that deal. Investigators are especially interested in €60,000 in consultancy payments that the former prime minister received in 2020 from two companies - SpringX Media and Accutor Consulting, which was formerly called VGH Europe.
Those payments were part of a consultancy contract Muscat signed weeks after resigning as prime minister. The contract would have allowed Muscat to receive a total of 36 separate €15,000 monthly payments, totalling €540,000, but the payments stopped abruptly after just four months.
Muscat declared almost €500,000 in consultancy earnings in 2020 - the year he resigned as prime minister.
Reacting on Wednesday morning, Muscat said that, "contrary to others", he always declared his income and paid his taxes.
"I always got paid for work I have carried out. I gave evidence of this to the magistrate and I asked her various times to be able to testify. She has never replied to my requests," Muscat said in a Facebook post.
Muscat claimed there were "obvious leaks" from the work being done by the inquiry.
He said these leaks had also been evident when his house was searched by the police last year.
"I have already gone through all this when they came up with the Egrant lie. I will make sure that those who are manipulating facts are pursued through justice when the time comes, and that truth prevails, even if I am alone in doing this," Muscat said.
The hospitals deal is currently the subject of a magisterial inquiry. That inquiry triggered a search of Muscat's home in early 2022 and is expected to recommend action against high-profile individuals.
Muscat, however, says he does not fear being arrest.
"It's an absolute lie. This is a frame-up," Muscat told Malta Today in further comments, speaking outside his state-funded office in Ta' Xbiex.