Finance minister denies 'favours' claim

Finance Minister Tonio Fenech this afternoon strongly denied claims made in the newspaper MaltaToday and repeated by Opposition leader Joseph Muscat regarding work done in his house by a private contractor.

Mr Fenech in a statement issued with his wife, said they had paid for the work carried out at their residence by a contractor after the work was certified by an architect. The payments were confirmed by a fiscal receipt. After the contractor cashed his cheque, he wrote through his legal adviser, Toni Abela, who is also the PL deputy leader, demanding more payment than certified by the architect.

Mr and Mrs Fenech said they had never ever linked work at their residence with any other matters, as had been claimed in the newspaper and repeated by Dr Muscat.

They reserved the right to take legal action.

Mr Fenech said that while Dr Muscat had said the media should not engage in character assassination, he was now involving himself in dirty commercial-political manoeuvres.

The newspaper said a contractor was claiming that he had been sub-contracted to work at the minister's house in return for his intervention to arrange for them to sell the former Jerma hotel. The sale did not take place, the main contractor ran into financial difficulties and the sub-contractor was now demanding payment directly from the minister.

The minister had told the newspaper that the allegations were 'a lie'.