Eight present-day Opposition MPs, formerly ministers or parliamentary secretaries, owe together €1.3 million for the €500 a week they took, government said this evening.

From the €1.6 million that the country paid out, these eight former ministers paid back just €300,000.

The government statement said that the claim this sum had been paid back had been made by PN and by Simon Busuttil on 20 February 2013, just before the election.But checks have revealed not more than €300,000 have been paid.

The eight MPs were named by the government: Chris Said, Jason Azzopardi, Tonio Fenech, Giovanna Debono, Clyde Puli, Mario Galea, Mario Demarco and George Pullicino.

In yet another press release issued by the Nationalist Party some time later, a clip from Dissett from March 2013 was shown again in which Prime Minister Joseph Muscat had said all former ministers had paid back the money they had taken.