A cryptic message by former MP Joseph M. Sammut has strongly hinted that a campaign had been mounted against him, one that eventually pushed him out of politics.

In a post on Facebook Wednesday, Sammut said that he is closely following the “attempt to politically kill” former Labour deputy prime minister Chris Fearne.

Now that the facts are slowly emerging, he said, “the manoeuvrings of who preached political cleanliness” are coming out.

Media articles have exposed how stories intended to cause damage to Fearne were fabricated, with the former minister seeking a police investigation and also the protection of the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

In his post on Facebook, Sammut said that many had asked him why he had withdrawn his candidacy on the eve of the 2017 election. He said that many people had been against his decision.

“At the time, I was not in a position to speak up about what was going on against me on a personal level … and this not just before the 2017 election. (It had been happening) for a long time.”

“I will stop here for the moment… I will say what I have to say when the opportune time comes,” he said.

Sammut was a Labour MP between 1998 and 2017.