Home Affairs Minister Carmelo Abela yesterday hit out at Opposition leader Simon Busuttil for “manipulating the truth” on the residency scandal.

“The leader of the Opposition has a way of interpreting things as he pleases,” he said.

Mr Abela was reacting to comments byDr Busuttil that the government was “blatantly lying” over the police probe on an alleged racket in the issuing of residence permits by Identity Malta.

Dr Busuttil last week said it was not true that it was Identity Malta itself, in particular its executive chairman Joe Vella Bonnici, which had prompted an investigation into the issuing of residence permits.

Rather it was the police who had done so on their own initiative.

“Minister Carmelo Abela is lying when he says that the investigation was started by the agency itself,” Dr Busuttil had told the Times of Malta.

Mr Abela would not say whether the police investigations were sparked by Mr Vella Bonnici when asked.

Instead, he reiterated that unspecified investigations had been ongoing since 2014.

“Dr Busuttil knows that when Identity Malta was set up it started taking many measures to address irregularities and lack of procedures,” he said.

Mr Abela went on to say that the government agency had asked several authorities to investigate the irregularities.

“He knew all this but chose to ignore it. I think it’s very unfair to release things out of context,” he said.

Asked again whether the police investigation had been sparked by Identity Malta, Mr Abela said: “The agency had begun this process before the police inquiry started. Before the investigation had, so to speak, focused on the current revelations.”

Dr Busuttil has also called for Mr Vella Bonnici to resign, insisting he had no idea what was happening under his very nose.

Reacting to this, Mr Abela said he had faith in Mr Vella Bonnici.