The Maltese and US governments issued a joint statement on Saturday in which they emphasised their close friendship and said claims implying “a lack of trust in key individuals in government are false”.
The unusual joint statement was issued a few days after a lawyer for alleged oil smuggler Darren Debono told a court that his client had been approached by US officials who wanted information about Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and his chief of staff Keith Schembri.
According to reports, Mr Debono’s lawyer said that the USA wanted information about the two men and about Malta allegedly refuelling Russian vessels. The embassy officials reportedly offered to lift US sanctions against him in exchange.
On Saturday, the Maltese and US governments said that bilateral relations were “consistently strong and continue to go from strength to strength”.
The governments said that they worked together transparently on issues ranging from climate change to drug and human trafficking, transnational crime and migration.
"Over the past three years, we have seen significant growth in our partnership with security and law enforcement elements along with cooperation against common threats to our countries.
“Any allegations to the contrary, including those implying lack of trust in key individuals in the government, are false and have absolutely no impact on our friendship and close collaboration”.
Mr Debono’s lawyer was speaking in court during a case related to Malta’s alleged request to the UN Security Council to introduce international sanctions against him and his two associates.
That request is believed to have stalled after Russia requested further information at the eleventh hour.
It is the second time in a week that the court case has prompted an official government statement. Earlier this week, the Foreign Affairs Ministry insisted that it was not ruling out further sanctions against Mr Debono or his associates in the future.
The statement came after a sanctions monitoring board official read out a Prime Ministerial declaration in court that the government was not presently seeking action against the alleged fuel smugglers “in any forum”.