Labour leader Joseph Muscat used to give his services as a licensed client adviser employed by Crystal Finance Limited to the company’s Gozitan clients in an office owned by former Labour Party financial controller Joe Cordina.

This arrangement, as far as Dr Muscat’s involvement is concerned, lasted between 2000 and 2004, when Crystal Finance Limited, owned by former Labour candidate Alfred Mifsud, did not have an office in Gozo and had as such reached an agreement with Mr Cordina to use his office to conduct business with Gozitan clients.

This seemingly ordinary piece of information was revealed by Mr Mifsud himself when contacted by The Malta Independent on Sunday yesterday evening, following a news conference in which Finance Minister Tonio Fenech yesterday raised a series of questions about the business links between Dr Muscat and Mr Cordina.

In a statement issued later, the PL denied that Dr Muscat was involved in any business with Mr Cordina or that they shared the same office. However, it confirmed what this newspaper had learnt earlier, that there had been an agreement between Mr Cordina and Crystal Finance to use the former’s office in Gozo. According to Mr Fenech, Mr Cordina is the person “at the centre of the oil procurement scandal”.

In his comments, Mr Mifsud said that the Labour leader ceased to be his employee in 2004 when he was elected to the European Parliament. He also pointed out that since then the company had acquired its own offices in Gozo and therefore no longer using Mr Cordina’s.

Some hours before, in what has now become the customary afternoon news conference at PN headquarters, each time on a different aspect of the oil procurement scandal, the PN shifted its focus on the Labour leader, insisting that he must reply to a number of questions.

This news conference was also intended give the last word to the PN, after Labour candidates Manuel Mallia and David Farrugia Sacco took part in a lengthy news conference in the morning to rebut claims made on Friday.

In yesterday’s news conference the finance minister once again referred to an investigative audit carried out in 2011 in which a company by the name of Intershore Fiduciary Services Limited, whose director was Mr Cordina, was found to be an accomplice in fraudulent activity involving $8.6 million. Aikon Limited, whose director was George Farrugia, had used Intershore as its nominee company and according to this audit was responsible for this fraud.

In his remarks Mr Fenech repeatedly said that it was no coincidence that Dr Muscat had “handpicked” Mr Cordina to be the party’s financial controller. He asked whether the Labour leader had shared an office with him and whether he had given advice to third parties about foreign investments.

Mr Cordina had been appointed the PL’s financial controller in 2008, and was reconfirmed in 2010 and in 2012. Mr Fenech said that contrary to his predecessor who used to be elected by the General Conference, Mr Cordina was chosen by the executive committee on the advice of Dr Muscat. These changes came into effect following major amendments to the Labour statute. However, the PL later clarified that these amendments were not in force in 2008 when Mr Cordina was nominated for the post for the first time.

Asked by The Malta Independent on Sunday whether Dr Muscat was aware of any wrongdoing by Mr Cordina when he appointed him as the party's financial controller, the finance minister referred to the fact that Mr Cordina was confirmed in his post in 2012, a year after the publication of this investigative audit.

Later on he was probed by the media to give further details about any possible wrongdoing by Dr Muscat. In his reply Mr Fenech said that he prefers to hear what Dr Muscat has to say first.

The finance minister accused Mr Cordina of hiding behind other people and said that it is time for the Labour leader to come forward and give an explanation.

Mr Fenech cast doubts on the financial statements submitted by Intershore. He said that according to the accounts submitted to the MFSA it made profits in the region of a few thousand euros a year, while the combined sum of its invoices listed in the audit amounts to $8.6 million. He described such discrepancies as “big misreporting”.

Referring to what had been said earlier by Dr Mallia and Dr Farrugia Sacco, Mr Fenech said that in their news conference the Labour candidates actually admitted their involvement in the civil case involving the Farrugia family against George Farrugia, and accused them of lying once again.

He said that the PL has lied six times in the space of a week citing the cases of the ‘white block’ in the Safi Labour club.

Another point raised concerned the ministerial code of ethics. Mr Fenech was keen to point out that contrary to what the PL said, Cabinet members are allowed to receive mementos or gifts as long as they are of little value. He added that if in doubt they are bound to consult the Prime Minister. The finance minister explained that the Maltese-style clock donated to him by the sister-in-law of George Farrugia was of little value, and hence he did nothing wrong in accepting it. He added that the whole story concerning this gift was another frame-up attempt by the PL.

Mr Fenech also remarked that there was nothing wrong in confronting Farrugia at police headquarters on Friday morning, and said that even the commissioner confirmed that he had never received a gift from him.

He said that the PL has been trying to implicate the PN in corruption but “now it has emerged that Joe Cordina is at the heart of these allegations”. If there is a party implicated in this it is Labour, he said.

On his part, the PN secretary general Paul Borg Olivier said that Dr Mallia’s threat to seek a prison sentence for defamation is a throwback to old Labour. He remarked that the last time a journalist was jailed after being found guilty of defamation was during a Labour administration back in the eighties.