The institutions should all "examine their conscience", amid public perception that corruption is widespread in Malta, Joseph Muscat said on Tuesday. 

A Eurobarometer survey published last week found that more than 90 per cent of Maltese citizens think that corruption is widespread in the country, topping the list of countries whose citizens feel that corruption affects their everyday lives. 

The former prime minister was answering questions from the media following another fiery sitting in front of the Public Accounts Committee, where he has been summoned as a witness about his role in the Electrogas deal. 

While being asked by the PAC about what action he took upon discovering that his chief of staff Keith Schembri and former minister Konrad Mizzi had set up offshore trusts while in office, Muscat said that this was a “secondary issue” and that the main allegation was that he had also taken money and owned the company Egrant. 

“Just as they lied about me, I figured they might be lying about them too. I never took a cent,” he said. 

Asked whether the public perception of widespread corruption could be linked to scandals that have been linked to him, Muscat said that “it could be read into anything”. 

“I think that all the institutions should be worried, there are people who don’t trust the courts or the media and others who criticise corruption among public officials and politicians,” he said. 

“I think that everyone should be examining their conscience, but when it comes to accusations that have been made against me, I have always answered clearly.” 

During Tuesday’s sitting, Muscat testified about his relationship with Electrogas shareholder Yorgen Fenech, whom he described as his “friend” and insisted that he had never discussed the project with Fenech, nor that his secret Panama company 17 Black was linked to Mizzi and Schembri’s offshore firms.