Former Prime Minister of Malta Joseph Muscat has said that he is not party to any contract following allegations that he was hired to lobby for the exiled former Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina.

In 2024, Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled the country and went to India after weeks of protests against a quota system for government jobs descended into violence and grew into a broader challenge to her 15-year rule.

On Monday, the Bangla Outlook reported that it obtained a copy of a US-based agency's intelligence memo which highlights that a coalition, including Indian intelligence, has been lobbying, purportedly with goals of "cleaning up Hasina's international image, weakening sanctions or asset freezes against business figures close to her, portraying the current interim government as 'Islamist fundamentalists,' and even laying groundwork for a possible overthrow of Bangladesh's current administration."

Among those named in the document are two lobbyists Bangla Outlook alleged have been hired to advance these aims internationally, the website reads, mentioning former Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat as one of them. The memo also alleges that high-level meetings were held in Malta, Dubai, and London, involving Indian intelligence operatives, Hasina's emissaries, and legal/political players with U.S. access, the report reads.

Answering questions sent to him by the newsroom about the article, and whether he has any ties to a particular group mentioned in the article, Muscat said: "I confirm I am not party to any contract as the one mentioned in the article nor I have ever received any payments from the said group. Furthermore, I never had meetings with Indian intelligence officers or legal/political player with US access. I note that the outlet that published these allegations in Bangladesh said it cannot verify its claims and most of the article is a repetition of what has long been in the public domain."