Former commissioner John Dalli questioned the credibility of the source which suggested that he visited the Bahamas to transfer tens millions of dollars, claims which were reproduced in a story published by the International Herald Tribune.

The source, Barry Conner, had been the landlord of a house Mr Dalli had stayed in on a trip to the Bahamas on July 2012 and later that summer. His comments were featured in the IHT story, which was published on Monday, and the transfers were said to concern a “very confidential” philanthropic project.

Mr Dalli, however, denied that he was involved in any money transfers in comments he made to the Malta Independent and other Maltese media, stating that he simply offered his advice concerning this project.

In a statement issued through his daughter Claire Gauci Borda this afternoon, Mr Dalli insisted that Mr Conner was not a credible source.

He noted that the house in question had been rented by a group as a base for meetings over a period of three months – the lease was in Ms Gauci Borda’s name, according to the IHT.

Mr Conner, according to Mr Dalli, participated in the “discussions that were taking place very openly about a philanthropic project that they wanted to develop,” and suggested that a trust he had in the Bahamas could be used as a vehicle for funds that would be received for the project.

Mr Dalli also said that Mr Conner visited Malta when he was away, aiming to organise some financial transactions. He said that the Bahamian asked his daughter to help, but added that she turned him down as the transactions were suspect.

The former commissioner also referred to comments posted online on 13 February under the name of Edward Butter, in which he asked “would anyone be interested that John Dalli visited the Bahamas with his daughter in Aug and Sept 2012. Rented a seaside million dollar mansion and had discussions with Bahamians about transferring tens of millions of $’s to the Bahamas?”

Mr Dalli noted that these same “false insinuations” were also featured in a number of threatening emails sent by Mr Conner to his daughter between 19 February and 3 March, stating that this led him to believe that “Mr Butter” was a false name adopted by Mr Conner to spread misinformation.

The former commissioner also accused the European Commission of “basing itself on another lie in an attempt to gain credibility,” stating that it had also done so when it relied “on the lies contained in the allegations of Swedish Match to start an investigation by OLAF and then terminate me from the Commission.”

“The Commission again grasped the opportunity without checking the source,” he said.