Neville Gafa was representing the Maltese government in talks with the Libyan government, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat confirmed on Thursday.

The Malta Independent first reported that Neville Gafa had been pictured in talks with the Libyan Deputy Prime Minister Ahmed Metig last week, but since then nobody within the government has seemed willing to explain exactly what Gafa was doing in Tripoli.

Asked about Gafa’s presence in Libya, the Prime Minister confirmed that Gafa was “part of a team of people from different sectors who went to Libya” and that he “used his contacts with the Libyan government in the name of the Maltese government”.

Asked which specific ministry employed Gafa, Muscat simply replied that he was employed “by the government” but that he did not know what his contract said” as it was not available to him at that moment in time.

Gafa has long been a controversial figure, after his name cropped up in investigations connected to the issue of medical visas to Libyan refugees, something which he, however, never faced criminal charges for.

Question marks have also abounded over which ministry employs him, with the Prime Minister, Health Minister Chris Fearne and Foreign Affairs Minister Carmelo Abela all saying last December – when Gafa was last in the headlines after it emerged that he had met with Libyan militia leader Haitham Tajouri – that Gafa was not employed with them.