Investment, Industry and IT Minister Austin Gatt has written to the Permanent Commission Against Corruption asking it to investigate claims made by Labour MP Leo Brincat.

In a statement, the minister said that after Mr Brincat refrained from producing evidence relating to claims he made about the head of the minister’s private secretariat, and continued to make vague allegations aimed solely to create doubt, he had written to the commission to investigate the matter.

In this way, Mr Brincat would be able to speak openly under the protection given by Maltese law, Dr Gatt said.

He said he hoped the commission would deal with the case as quickly as possible because it was not fair that a public official’s name was being publicly tainted without the possibility of taking remedial action.