PN deputy leader for Party Affairs Beppe Fenech Adami was yesterday unable to confirm or deny whether the Nationalist Party has ever received any donations from the Gaffarena family.

Dr Fenech Adami said that if the PN ever received any donations, it did not translate into a permit for his illegal Qormi petrol station or an expropriation deal that made him (Gaffarena) a millionaire, as was the case under the Labour government.

Dr Fenech Adami said he hoped that an independent inquiry into business links between the Gaffarena  family and former police inspector Daniel Zammit will also look into Mr Zammit’s father, forming acting Police Commissioner Ray Zammit.

Daniel Zammit shot to prominence recently when it emerged that he was boarded out from the police force for psychiatric reasons, and was then employed on a 60,000 annual salary at Enemalta.

It later emerged that Mr Zammit was in a business relationship with Marco Gaffarena’s father at a time when he was charged with investigating a murder involving the Gaffarena family.

Dr Fenech Adami welcomed the independent inquiry, but said the government took its time to take action as the allegations emerged last week.

He said the scandal has undermined both the judiciary and the police force.

Asked if he condones the fact that former shadow finance minister Tonio Fenech played around with figures given to him by his ‘spies,’ Dr Fenech Adami dodged the question.

In one of the e-mails, Mr Fenech said he has intentionally changed the figures of how much Enemalta’s petroleum division was sold off for, so as not to reveal his sources.

Asked by The Malta Independent if it ideal to have a former finance minister playing around with figures, Dr Fenech Adami said: “It was not a case of playing around with figures.”