Junior Minister Rosianne Cutajar has insisted she "always acted correctly", following reports that she brokered a multi-million euro property deal for Yorgen Fenech, pocketing a €46,500 fee in cash in the process.
Writing on Facebook on Sunday, Cutajar said she was convinced she had always acted correctly, "legally, ethically and politically" and was willing to defend her reputation if needed.
Cutajar was reacting to reports published separately by The Sunday Times of Malta and Malta Today which both revealed that the junior minister was involved in brokering a property deal for Fenech, a business tycoon who is now facing murder charges.
The deal was arranged in May 2019 and Cutajar and an associate of hers, Charles Farrugia, are alleged to have both been handed a €46,500 brokerage fee, in cash, for having connected the seller to Fenech.
Fenech was arrested some months later and the final deed of sale was never signed. The seller is now alleged to be chasing Cutajar and Farrugia to return the money.
Cutajar did not respond to questions sent prior to publication and instead provided a letter she said her lawyer had sent the seller, informing him that she was extraneous to the matter.
Following publication, the junior minister reacted shared that letter on her Facebook page. In it, lawyer Edward Gatt told the property seller's legal representative, lawyer Pierre Lofaro, that the seller's requests should be addressed elsewhere.
"I am told that until today, there is no court case or legal proceeding about this alleged request, as is normally the case when somebody believes that he is owed something in the civil field," Cutajar wrote.
"I am convinced that I always acted correctly legally, ethically and politically and am ready to defend my name if and as needed," she added.
Cutajar is now likely to face a probe by parliament's standards commissioner, who has been asked to investigate the case by independent candidate Arnold Cassola.
Opposition leader Bernard Grech, meanwhile, has urged Prime Minister Robert Abela to summon his junior minister to demand her resignation.
"If she does not resign, she should be sacked," the PN leader said on Sunday.