Last updated 12.50 pm Tuesday

Former Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi has  denied that he was ever in possession of documents which had anything to do with corruption in fuel procurement and that he had given these documents to a security officer. Nor had he given any instructions for anybody to do so.  

Dr Gonzi was reacting to comments made in parliament by Labour MP Evarist Bartolo.

In a reaction, Mr Bartolo said Dr Gonzi was either playing with words, or he did not know the full facts.

In 2011 somebody sent documents with information about corruption to Dr Gonzi. The documents were delivered by a Security Service official detailed with Dr Gonzi.

Dr Gonzi did not want to even touch them and asked for an investigation.

The documents were taken to the Security Service but instead of an investigation, contact was made between the Security Service and the secretariat of a ministry and some of these documents were destroyed.

These matters were mentioned several times during the 2013 electoral campaign when Dr Gonzi invariably replied that whenever he received information, he asked for it to be investigated, Mr Bartolo said.

But did Dr Gonzi know what happened in this case when he asked for the investigation? Did he know that some of the documents had been destroyed? If yes, what did he do? If he did not know, how could be deny the facts?

GONZI FIRES BACK

In a quick reply, Dr Gonzi said he did not play with words like somebody else did when he said one thing and did another.

Neither did he invent things or twist facts as they suited him for political advantage or to deviate attention.

Therefore, he was reiterating that it was not true that he passed on, or asked anyone to pass on documents of this type to the Security Service.

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