Former Finance Minister Tonio Fenech said he had always declined any jobs with companies that had in any way benefited from a public contract.

Fenech was replying to former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, who named him in a list of former PN MPs who took up assignments after leaving public office. Muscat asked why these PN MPs were never criticised for such jobs.

Muscat has come under fire after reports read that he received €60,000 in consultancy fees in 2020 from a Swiss company that had received millions from Steward Health Care in 2018. Steward has taken over a concession to run three public hospitals.

In reply via a post on Facebook, Fenech said that following his “departure from public office as a Minister and subsequently from an MP, I never accepted any engagement or acted as a director on a company that had in any way benefited from a public contract or a public concession.

“When I was approached to consider an engagement with a company that had the possibility to benefit from a public contract, I declined this engagement as I felt that this would conflict my role then as Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee.

“All the companies I acted as a director to, where fully disclosed to Parliament for the years I was a Member of Parliament as required by the Code of Ethics including the remuneration made from such engagements.

“Any remuneration that I received for my services for these company passed the AML scrutiny of the Bank holding my only personal accounts in Malta, all where remittances from companies registered in Malta.”

PN MP Claudio Grech has also replied to Muscat, saying all agreements in which he was involved were tabled in Parliament.

"Yesterday Dr Joseph Muscat tried to justify his actions by pointing fingers at the private practice of former PN Ministers and also my appointment as CEO of SmartCity in 2008.

For starters, SmartCity Malta is a joint venture between the Government of Malta and Tecom Group. The latter is an entity forming part of Dubai Holding, which is ultimately owned by the UAE-government, operating assets of circa €30 billion globally.

"My appointment in 2008 was the result of an invitation and approval by both these shareholders to serve as the CEO of the project, based on what I could offer to the project and the vision of transforming Malta into an ICT hub. This is an honour and privilege that I shall cherish for life as being considered worthy of the role by my State and an organisation of the stature of Tecom Group, which acts within very rigorous compliance frameworks, is something which bears enormous value.

"Contextually, this is even more so relevant when one considers that Tecom Group were not some BVI-based nominee company with no traceable track record whose ultimate beneficiary owners were not known to government, just as was the case with Vitals Global Healthcare.

"Finally, for good measure, unlike the blacked-out agreements with Vitals and then compounded with those with Steward, all the agreements related to SmartCity Malta were tabled in Parliament and approved with no vote against.