Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said he believed the version given by his chief of staff Keith Schembri, and not Opposition Leader Simon Busuttil, who revealed on Tuesday that Keith Schembri received kickbacks from Nexia BT's Brian Tonna on sale of citizenship documents.
Speaking to journalists, Dr Muscat said he vouches for Keith Schembri, who said he will sue the Opposition Leader for libel.
Dr Muscat said that he did not ask the police to start an investigation following what Dr Busuttil said. "Authorities do not need politicians to tell them what to do. I trust the authorities."
Asked whether he believes that by not asking the authorities to investigate these latest claims he is dong a disservice to the country, he said that it is those who think politicians can send people to prison who are doing a disservice to the country. "I was shocked hearing a politicians saying he wants to throw so and so into prison. Not even in the most scandalous case - the oil scandal - where there was evidence did I use those kinds of words. Right now people are worried, seeing someone who wants to be Prime Minister who, when he loses his temper like when he received an SMS from the db group and went on TV putting himself in a crisis, will throw someone in jail in the same way."
He said that the allegations made by the Opposition Leader yesterday had surfaced a year ago. "I expected (Busuttil) to say why I shouldn't be believed and why his lies should be believed. Instead he went off at a tangent. He doesn't want to discuss the story he invented about my wife."
The Prime Minister said that the country deserves a better Opposition, other than "the destructive one." He said he would not allow anyone drive the country into instability or stop the economic rhythm.
Asked about the sale of passports, and whether they should be suspended, Dr Muscat said that all systems are in place and there is a regulator. "It is practically impossible to tamper with the open and transparent system. I believe the Opposition Leader is trying to jam the economy and I will not let him do it," he said.
The Prime Minister said that if the evidence the Opposition Leader says he has turns out to be wrong, then Dr Busuttil would need to carry that responsibility.
The Prime Minister, when faced with questions regarding the structures used for a simple loan to be repaid, chose to attack the PN using Keith Schembri's statement. Mr Schembri had said: "For the record, Brian Tonna did settle a transaction of a loan for which the necessary evidence exists, which loan was made in 2012, and hence well before Labour entered Government and before the IIP scheme was conceived. Similar and larger facilities were given by myself and my companies to Allied Newspapers and the Nationalist Party's Media.link commercial arm. One might expect Simon Busuttil now to assume I have been paid kickbacks by them too."