Prime Minister Joseph Muscat should be explaining how he spent €11,000 in a week in a hotel in Dubai, the Nationalist Party said in a statement.

The PN said that the link that existed between Media.Link Communications with the entrepreneur who was given a prime site for development at a low price by Joseph Muscat and Konrad Mizzi was of a commercial nature. In 2016, the money spent, VAT included, was €70,800.

The PN said it had no problem publishing the invoices of this commercial relationship, but it stopped short of doing so.

PM Muscat is now avoiding to reply on how he spent €11,000 on a holiday in Dubai in 2016. In his declaration of assets, the PM declared an income of €68,000, which means that Muscat spent one-fifth of his income on the holiday, the PN said.

The PN was replying to a press conference given by Minister Edward Zammit Lewis who again demanded that the PN publishes the invoices related to its commercial relationship with the db Group.

What has happened in the past days exposes the Nationalist Party to money laundering. Does Simon Busuttil still think that the money received by the PN was dirty money?, Dr Zammit Lewis asked.

OPM responds

In reaction, the Office of the Prime Minister said that after a year of alleging someone else paid for the Prime Minister and his wife’s trip to Dubai, "the PN now admits that it was paid for by the Prime Minister as seen in the receipts they are referring to."

"Now, Dr Busuttil wants to know why the Prime Minister chose this location for his family trip, and how these funds were spent. "

The statement read that the Prime Minister paid for the trip through his credit card, and paid for it through his personal account.

 

“It would be good for the PN Leader to publish the false invoices he ordered, which are in breach of the party financing law.”