Parliamentary Secretary Tony Abela said the claims being made about him by the leader of the Opposition were part of a misleading campaign aimed to take away attention from the huge successes the country was achieving.

Dr Abela was replying to comments by Alfred Sant, accusing Dr Abela of being in breach of the code of ethics.

He said that in the exercise of his position as parliamentary secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister and as an MP he regularly met people from different localities who had recourse to him in connection with matters relating to government departments and authorities.

Where necessary, he said, he signed, not against payment, as a witness various authorisations which people needed to present to, for instance, the Joint Office, the Lands Department, the Housing Authority, and so on.

It was not fair for Dr Sant to depict these signatures as being part of the work which notaries carried out. Such requests, Dr Abela added, were considered as a service to constituents and as political work.