Mr Dalli filed the report claiming he had been slandered by defamatory allegations made by Dr Sant. Dr Sant’s claims began on Sunday, at the MLP’s mass meeting in Mosta, but were first brought to light when a story was published by the Labour Party’s weekly newspaper KullHadd.

Dr Sant claimed that Gauci Borda Shipping Company was chosen as the agent of the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) which were already represented in Malta by SMS Shipping. Dr Sant continued by alleging that one of the directors of the Gauci Borda Shipping Company was a high-ranking official in Mr Dalli’s ministry while the newspaper claimed that the company’s secretary was Mr Dalli’s daughter.

During a press conference later in the week, Dr Sant claimed that the Iranian delegation was welcomed at the airport by Mr Dalli and later on that evening had a planned dinner with SMS Shipping. However, they cancelled this appointment and instead had dinner with Mr Dalli’s family at his house.

Meanwhile, when he was speaking to The Malta Independent last Tuesday, Mr Dalli insisted that he never influenced any of IRISL’s decisions on which company to choose as their representatives in Malta, adding that SMS Shipping was never the company’s exclusive agent in Malta.

He shrugged off Dr Sant’s claims that he used his ministerial position to put pressure on an Iranian company to choose a specific representative in Malta, adding that these allegations formed part of “Alfred Sant’s usual pre-election mud-slinging tactics”.