Muscat uses revolving-doors defence over call for investigations

Former Labour prime minister Joseph Muscat issued an instant response to a call from Repubblika for police investigations into his consultancy work while still an MP in 2020, following his disgraced exit.

He doubled down on the calls for investigations into his private work by saying he had nothing to hide.

“There can be all the necessary investigations since I have nothing to hide. It seems that those making accusations against me are implying that because I carried out work abroad for a company that could have had connections with interests in Malta, this amounts to corruption. “This when the assignments I carried out have nothing to do with the Maltese government.”

The statement concerns a report from The Times showing Muscat was paid in March 2020 from a Swiss firm for consultancy work. The same firm had previous connections with Steward Healthcare, the private hospitals concessionaire, as well as with Yorgen Fenech, the Tumas magnate now accused of masterminding the Caruana Galizia assassination.

Muscat has denied any link between any government project and the consultancies he was paid for.

“Using the same benchmark, I cannot understand how nobody ever protested against other people. For example, Dr Austin Gatt, who after stepping down from his ministerial post took up roles in a group of companies that has a direct relation with at least two entities that were under his direct responsibility for many years,” Muscat said, referring to the Hili Group.

“Or Tonio Fenech, who was responsible for financial services for many years but then gave services to companies in the financial services sector,” he said, referring to the former minister who also passed through the revolving door.

“Or Claudio Grech, who was part of the Ministry which negotiated Smart City on behalf of the Maltese government and then was appointed CEO of Smart City. This to mention only a few, and without going in the realm of legal services,” Muscat said, referring to the former Austin Gatt aide who switched over to the private company Tecom which Gatt’s ministry attracted to Malta for their Smart City project.

“But there are clearly two weights and two measures. The authorities should do their job according to the rules, which include us not getting to know what is going on through particular channels, since it undermines trust in the system.”