Parliament must look into reports former prime minister Joseph Muscat was paid thousands of euros by a firm linked to the controversial hospitals deal, Opposition leader Bernard Grech said on Sunday. 

Speaking on the Nationalist Party’s NET radio, Grech said Muscat has a lot to explain and the House must demand he answers.  

The opposition leader was reacting to an exclusive report by Times of Malta on Sunday which revealed that Muscat was wired some €60,000 in "consultancy fees" from a Swiss company that received millions from Steward Healthcare during the firm’s takeover of the VGH hospitals deal. 

Grech said the matter must be discussed in Parliament as a matter of urgency. 

He went out on the offensive against the Labour administration which he accused of continuing to cover up for, and protect, former members like Konrad Mizzi, Keith Schembri, and Muscat.  

“We have politicians who are all smiles for ribbon outings and photo opportunities, but then do not take action when it is needed,” Grech said.  

Muscat denies any wrongdoing. He insists the payments were for work that was documented, fully invoiced, declared and paid in Malta.

On Sunday he took to Facebook to insist the work he carried out over a number of months was not in any way related to projects related to the Maltese Government. 

Grech and Nationalist MP Adrian Delia on Saturday announced they had jointly filed a judicial protest holding the Labour government liable for any damages incurred in the hospitals’ concession.

Muscat replies

Reacting to Grech on Facebook, Muscat on Sunday said he had not done any work related to Malta or with any companies involved in the running of hospitals.  

Muscat said he had been paid for work he had done abroad and he had declared and paid tax on his earnings.  

“If he wants to he can look at his associates and work they did once they stopped being ministers of while they were still MPs which he doesn’t seem to have any problems with,” he wrote.  

“I have nothing to hide,” he concluded.

Unethical behaviour which merits investigation

Earlier on Sunday, the NGO Occupy Justice said Muscat's behaviour was unethical, and an investigation should be held. 

"Joseph Muscat is still cashing cheques from the dirty deals he brokered while he was still Malta’s Prime Minister, and he yet he continues to deny this," the NGO said 

"He awarded a government contract worth millions to a company which was paying millions to the same company he later billed for consultancy services. This is highly unethical and suspicious and shows that Muscat, rather than working for the betterment of the country he was elected to look after, was instead just feathering his retirement nest."

It called for immediate investigations into the legality of these transactions by both the FIAU and the Police Force. 

Revelations raise more questions - Repubblika 

Rule of law group Repubblika said the 'shocking' story in The Sunday Times of Malta raised even more questions.  

• Did Robert Abela, Chris Fearne and Edward Scicluna know about Muscat's negotiations with the hospital group and were they satisfied that he was safeguarding the national interest?
• Did Robert Abela see a conflict of interest in the way how Muscat was being paid as a consultant by the company, at the same time as Abela was saying that the former prime minister was his own consultant? 
• Was former minister Konrad Mizzi, the architect of the hospitals deal, also a consultant of the company? 
• Would the Commissioner of Police and the Attorney General do something about this case?