Andreina Fenech Farrugia was only suspended from her post of Director General of the Fisheries Department because of confirmed evidence and not because of reports which appeared in international media, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat told journalists on Tuesday.

Asked why Fenech Farrugia was suspended after media reports were published, with the story first being broken in Spain's El Confidencial, Muscat said that the government was not privy to how investigations were run and what information they have in hand and added that a decision was only taken after the evidence that was quoted in the media was confirmed.

Prior to this however, the government was not "formally conscious" of the information pertaining to Fenech Farrugia, Muscat said.

Fenech Farrugia has somewhat cryptically alleged that she is being "singled out" in the treatment she has received, but asked about this Muscat said that Malta was being mentioned in a negative light because it was the only country which has thus far taken action despite the fact that the country has nothing to do with the investigations that are ongoing.

Asked by this newsroom whether Fenech Farrugia's statement could have been in reference to times when certain politicians were not suspended despite serious allegations in the media, Muscat did not answer, instead saying that the question should be posed to Fenech Farrugia herself rather than to him, before adding that he had made all the necessary explanations with regards to the situation.

Fenech Farrugia was suspended indefinitely last week after Spain's El Confidencial published transcripts that allegedly show how she asked Spanish tuna Jose Fuentes, also the owner of the local Mare Blu tuna farm, for payments.

The leaked transcripts also suggest that Fenech Farrugia was allegedly using her role as Fisheries director to influence Environment Minister in favour of Fuentes, with whom she seems to have had a cosy relationship.

A number of fish farm operators contacted by The Malta Independent on Sunday all had the same general notion: that Fenech Farrugia had always favoured Fuentes during negotiations and discussions and that she was, as one put it, "mostly inclined towards Fuentes and his industry".

Fenech Farrugia meanwhile has insisted that payments were only made to her in her official capacity as director while insisting that she was "singled out" in an extensive investigation that included many operators.

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.

Meanwhile a spokesperson for the Environment ministry last week said that neither Environment Minister Jose Herrera nor Parliamentary Secretary Clint Camilleri have even been directly or indirectly contacted by Jose Fuentes, after some of the leaked transcripts seemed to show that Fenech Farrugia spoke to Fuentes about meetings with the "minister" and other "government officials.".