Suspended fisheries director Andreina Fenech Farrugia has insisted that payments were only made to her in her official capacity while insisting that she was “singled out” in an extensive investigation that included many operators,

Fenech Farrugia was suspended indefinitely over claims that she demanded payments from Spanish tuna kingpin Jose Fuentes, who is at the centre of a Spanish investigation.

In a statement to the media, Fenech Farrugia insisted that she had never acted incorrectly. “I always acted in a professional, ethical and fair manner in terms of the law, and I was always impartial and fair with all operators and individuals involved in the sector,” she said.

The suspended director said the allegations levelled against her were based on summaries of alleged phone calls she could not confirm as having been made. The transcripts, she said, were not word-for-word, which means that some parts may have been misinterpreted or taken out of context. The Spanish language used in the summaries was of very poor quality, she said, which may have also led to misinterpretation.

Fenech Farrugia said she was appointed director general in 2013 after a public call for which she had qualified first. The same process was repeated in 2016. She said she had already held the position in 2011. It was part of her duties to communicate frequently with all operators in the sector. Fenech Farrugia said she had always been equally available to anyone, despite reports indicating that she communicated with only one operator.

She denied having ever asked for or received money for personal use. Operators who were legally allowed to increase their tuna quota would have been required to make payments to the department which she represented.

“Official payments, in terms of the law, were made to me as director, and it is therefore obvious that if an operator was to have an increase in his quota, he would have had to made a payment to me as director, according to his quota increase in terms of the law,” she said.

Fenech Farrugia said it was strange how she had been “singled out” in an investigation involving many operators, individuals and companies.

She hoped this was not a move aimed at stopping her from working in the best interests of the sector and the observance of the law.

The suspended director insisted that there were times where she had ordered action to be taken against this particular operator, as she had done with others when this was required.

Requests for an increase in tuna quotas were always handled in a transparent way by the competent authorities and against payment of hundreds of thousands of euros to her as director, as established by law.

Fenech Farrugia said she would continue to cooperate with the authorities.