Dr Gonzi was speaking to The Times’ Steve Mallia in an extensive interview with.

The two will thus take Lm9,000 in all, or 0.1 per cent of the whole Lm9 million sum.

Nevertheless, Labour leader Alfred Sant still declared on Friday evening that Dr Gonzi is a “slave in the clutches of friends of friends”. He also claimed the two were chosen for their friendship with Malta’s man in Brussels, Richard Cachia Caruana. The architect was chosen, Dr Sant added, for having built a swimming pool in Mr Cachia Caruana’s Malta residence. Mr Xuereb has also been involved in work in other Maltese embassies abroad but this was not mentioned by Dr Sant.

Dr Sant, who earlier said an architect in government employment should have been used, remained unfazed by the Lm3,000 that Mr Xuereb is getting. That money, he declared, should have been spent on gloves, cotton and bandages at the hospital.

In his interview, Dr Gonzi also countered the claim, earlier made by former minister John Dalli in a letter to this paper, that the whole procedure which led to the purchase of the building, was led and managed by Mr Cachia Caruana.

Mr Cachia Caruana’s involvement in the actual buying process, Dr Gonzi said, was minimal. As the permanent representative in Brussels, he had to identify the minimum level of personnel required, then the services which needed to be provided and the space needed. Dr Gonzi added that Mr Cachia Caruana did have a say in identifying the actual building, but this role was “indirect rather than direct”.

Dr Sant claimed that this costly building was purchased “so that Mr Cachia Caruana does not have to take a taxi to go to the Commission.”

The final decision, including price, location and space available, Dr Gonzi added, was taken by Cabinet through the exercise of collective responsibility with no one voting against.

One of the reasons which militated for an early purchase decision, Dr Gonzi added, was because another government (unidentified by Dr Gonzi) was interested in the building.

Dr Gonzi also denied another claim – that the company which sold the building to the Government of Malta made a very handsome profit. Super One had earlier claimed that Cofinimmo, the Belgian property company, had bought the building last year for e5.90 million and then sold it to the Maltese government for three times the amount. Dr Gonzi said the company bought the property in 2002 but registered it in 2003, and government’s information is that it bought the property for e12.5 million, thus making, after taking away taxes, a net profit of e0.5 million.

Speaking about the proposed renting of space, Dr Gonzi said that with an annual revenue of e700,000 per year, the government will recoup its expenditure over 27 years.