Updated - Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said this afternoon that anyone close to him found to have a secret Swiss account would have to step down.

He made his comments this morning when replying to reporters' questions on a number of issues while on a tour of Maltapost.

Yesterday, Dr Muscat said  former Nationalist minister Michael Falzon’s apology for evading tax was important but it did not excuse everything.

“Investigations will still have to continue and the government will carry out all the necessary investigations,” he told Times of Malta.

However, the apology also showed that Mr Falzon did “the gentlemanly thing”, Dr Muscat added.

Mr Falzon apologised unreservedly last week after admitting he held an undeclared Swiss bank account with €460,000. He evaded tax on his earnings even while an MP and minister.

He had suspended himself from the Nationalist Party and Enemalta’s fuel procurement committee to which he was appointed by the Labour government.

Mr Falzon’s name and that of former Nationalist minister Ninu Zammit appeared on a list of leaked Swiss bank accounts held with HSBC.

Asked whether he feared having the names of people in the Labour Party on the HSBC list, Dr Muscat answered: “It should be those on the list who have to be scared. I have nothing to fear.”