Prime Minister Joseph Muscat had informed the magisterial inquiry that he had attended the wedding of Pilatus Bank Chairman and Owner Sayed Ali Sadr Hasheminejad, a Labour Party statement has said.
The statement said that the PM "was invited to the wedding, the hundreds of other events he is invited to throughout the year due to the position he occupies."
The PL also pointed towards KPMG's statements to the MEPs during their visit to Malta, where Juanita Bencini said that OPM did not in any way intervene in the process with Pilatus Bank.
The process to bring the bank to Malta, the statement read, started in 2012, with an initial meeting taking in place in June and a first presentation taking place in September of that year.
"Simon Busuttil would seem more serious and credible if he posed the same questions to Lawrence Gonzi," the statement read referencing Nemea Bank, where the former PM was a director.
PM remained silent about his personal relationship with Pilatus Chairman despite allegations - Busuttil
Earlier, PN Spokesperson for Good Governance Simon Busuttil had criticised Prime Minister Joseph Muscat for remaining silent rather than declaring the intimate relationship he held with Pilatus Bank Chairman and Owner Sayed Ali Sadr Hasheminejad, despite the bank being central to the Panama Papers and FIAU report revelations.
"He only declared so after what was revealed," Busuttil said in a statement.
Ali Sadr was arrested last week on charges that he evaded US economic sanctions and money laundering.
On Sunday, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and his Cheif of Staff Keith Schembri confirmed that they attended the wedding of Ali Sadr Hasheminejad in 2015, which Busuttil said was evidence that the three held an intimate personal friendship.
"What kind of PM goes abroad from the wedding of an Iranian if they did not have an intimate friendship with them?" Busuttil said.
The relationship, he said, created a clear conflict of interest between those in power and those who held financial interests.
"It also shows that the chaos that has unravelled at Pilatus Bank had the blessing of Joseph Muscat because while Ali Sadr faces 125 years in prison in the United States of America, he has his good friend the PM and the protection from the law here in Malta, " he said.
Busuttil said it was of no surprise that Ali Sadr was not arrested the night he left the bank with bags full of documents, and that the bank was not investigated properly.
"Instead it was given a certificate to continue operating, regardless of the enormous risk to our country's reputation," he continued.
This showed, he said, that the PM is personally responsible for the damage Pilatus Bank has done to the country's reputation.
"The longer Muscat remains PM, our country's name will continue being damaged," Busuttil said.