Fenech breached ministers' code of ethics - Muscat

Opposition leader Joseph Muscat has declared that it is time to clean up Maltese politics.

Turning his sights on finance minister Tonio Fenech, Muscat said that the minister's initial version of events had changed and he was now admitting to having met George Farrugia.

"Despite initially denying ever meeting George Farrugia, finance minister Tonio Fenech today admitted to meeting Farrugia on two occasions," Muscat said.

"The first meeting was about an Enemalta tender and the second meeting occurred when Farrugia went to his house to give him the clock. Fenech's only argument to the contrary was that the clock's value was less than €5,000. Fenech knows that the code of ethics binding all ministers expressly forbids the acceptance of any gifts, no matter their value," he said.

Muscat was speaking at a PL activity held in Gozo.

Muscat said that the Cabinet is compromised of one minister who forgot that he owns a Swiss bank account, and another minister who forgot that he received a gift.

Joe Cordina, the PL's former financial administrator was also on hand to explain his side of the story.

"I provide nominee services during the normal course of my work as an accountant. This service often involves one company appearing on behalf of another. This service is provided under licence by the MFSA. George Farrugia was just one of the clients of this fiduciary company, but I never met him personally," Cordina said.

Cordina went on to explain that he never came into contact with any illegalities relating to bribery.

"As soon as I was contacted by the lawyers representing Farrugia's brothers and brought up to speed with the situation, I immediately terminated all interactions with George Farrugia. Tonio Fenech's attempts to implicate me in the scandal are outright lies, and I will be opening libel proceedings against the minister in order to clear my name," Cordina said.

Questioning on why he had resigned immediately, Cordina replied that he did not want to let the PN use him in order to disrupt the PL electoral campaign during the last two weeks.

Cordina appealed to all his supporters to vote for the PL in order to bring about the necessary change much needed in this country.