Labour leader Joseph Muscat said this evening that Finance Minister Tonio Fenech had to explain why he accepted a gift worth over €5000 from George Farrugia soon after he being minister responsible for Enemalta, why he had not declared it, and what he gave in return.

Dr Muscat made his comments after Labour MP Evarist Bartolo made the claim about the gift at a press conference.

Mr Fenech promptly denied receiving such a gift and said he would sue Mr Bartolo.

Dr Muscat said the gift brought down the government's 'house of cards' on the oil procurement scandal.

He said the prime minister had known that this case would show up and the PN had therefore tried a diversionary tactic by trying to pin Labour's financial administrator, Joe Cordina, to a company involved in the oil scandal.

Mr Cordina had denied involvement and the police never investigated him. But Mr Cordina immediately offered to resign his post and withdraw his general election candidature.

Dr Muscat said he had accepted the resignation.

But, Dr Muscat said, if responsibility was being placed on Mr Cordina because he was a director of a fiduciary company, then the same applied for the prime minister's son, who had been secretary in a similar company, SIB Labs , set up by officials of the Salvatore Maugeri Foundation who are being investigated for money laundering, tax evasion and misappropriation of some €15m.

Dr Gonzi always denied wrongdoing.

Dr Muscat said Labour was not saying that Dr Gonzi did anything wrong and it took his word for it. But by Mr Fenech's yardstick, what was good for the goose, was good for the gander.

DAVID GONZI STATEMENT

In a statement, Dr David Gonzi said he was never secretary of SIB Laboratories Ltd and was never involved in its operations, administration or management. Therefore the implications made against him were totally unfounded.

He had been engaged by a law firm to provide secretarial services for clients of the same law firm. SIB Labs Ltd was not one of them. His service, which he was no longer given, was to SIB Ltd, and not SIB Labs Ltd.

The allegations which had been made before, were denied on April 30, 2012.

EVARIST BARTOLO REPLY

In a reply, Mr Bartolo said Dr David Gonzi was trying to confuse people by giving the impression that Sib Ltd, of which he was a secretary was not implicated in the Maugeri scandal. He said Sib Ltd was one of several companies set up by officials of the Salvatore Maugeri Foundation who had  been charged in court in Italy with money laundering, tax evasion and misappropriation of public funds.

"In fact Sib Ltd is the major shareholder of Sib Laboratories Ltd that was used by the Salvatore Maugeri Foundation to funnel €15 million out of Italy to Malta through the Bank of Valletta. Italian inquiring magistrates said that the Maugeri Foudnation used influential persons like top politicans and their relatives to “open doors” and make it easier for them to conceal their money laundering operations," Mr Bartolo said.