John Dalli will retain his role as head of a reform body within Mater Dei Hospital, following a meeting with Prime Minister Joseph Muscat which ended, according to Mr Dalli, on a “very positive” note.

Revelations that Mr Dalli had gone on a number of trips to the Bahamas last summer – when he was still an EU Commissioner, but was being investigated by EU anti-fraud agency OLAF – surfaced in a report by the International Herald Tribune last Monday.

The IHT quoted Bahamian national Barry Connor, the landlord of a villa rented by Mr Dalli’s daughter, Claire Gauci Borda, who said that Mr Dalli told him that he planned to transfer large amounts of money for an unspecified venture of an apparent philanthropic nature.

But Mr Dalli has insisted that he transferred no such funds, and that he was simply providing assistance – on a voluntary basis – in the development of a charitable project.

In a press briefing that lasted around 50 minutes, Mr Dalli noted that he met Dr Muscat for a 1-hour meeting yesterday to discuss the issue in detail, accompanied by his daughters, Ms Gauci Borda and Louisa Dalli. On Thursday, Dr Muscat had said that he expected Mr Dalli to explain himself to him when asked about the former commissioner’s appointment at Mater Dei.

While he said that he could not speak on behalf of the prime minister, Mr Dalli said that the outcome of the meeting was very positive. In reply to another question, he confirmed that there was “no change,” as far as his Mater Dei appointment was concerned.

During the briefing, Mr Dalli provided more details about the philanthropic project – stating that the foreseen project would see billions of euros invested in African economic projects which would, in turn support initiatives in education and health. He noted that he provided Dr Muscat with further documents on the project which he could not publicise due to professional secrecy.

He also insisted that he had done no wrong, that there was absolutely no link to the OLAF investigations in his regard, and that the release of the story had been timed by the European Commission to discredit MEPs who proposed amendments which would increase parliamentary oversight of OLAF, and which were provoked by his case. The amendments failed to pass last Wednesday.