Former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has refused to say who paid for his first class flights to Dubai earlier this year, insisting that he was “fully transparent” with Standards Commissioner George Hyzler.

The commissioner found that there was no breach of ethics when someone paid for the Muscats’ first class tickets, worth over €21,000.

The former PM had previously said that he had paid for the flights from “personal expenses”, but Hyzler found that they were paid for by a third party which was not named in the report.

The commissioner said there was no ethics breach since the flights were not paid for from public funds. The tickets were purchased in Jordan.

“Since it appeared that the visit was private in nature, not related to official government business, and did not involve a breach of ethics, the Commissioner accepted Dr Muscat’s request to withhold publication of the details of the visit.”

Read more: TMIS Editorial – More questions than answers.

Muscat was asked, on Monday, whether he would say who paid for the flights. “I handed over all the data to the standards commissioner. I was completely transparent,” he said.

“I believe, once the standards commissioner did not find any breach of ethics, and that the concerned entity has no interest in Malta, a have to right to go on with my private life,” Muscat continued.