Updated with PN statement at 1.30pm

The government was seeking advice from the Attorney General on a potential remedy for the Löwenbräu deal, Justice Minister Owen Bonnici said today.

The deal, which was criticised by the auditor general, clearly had the fingerprints of former Parliamentary Secretary Jason Azzopardi over it, Dr Bonnici said during a press conference.

In 1990, the land was allocated on a perpetual basis to Löwenbräu Ltd. In 2009, Marsovin redeemed the ground rent for €465,875 and sold it on to Zaren Vassallo with government simultaneously consenting to the cancellation of condition stating the land could only be used as a brewery.

This was later deemed to be in breach of applicable legislation and corrected through a contract of exchange in 2012, when the freehold value of the land was set at €706,400.

The Labour Party is accusing Dr Azzopardi of intervening to allow the brewery condition to be dropped.

Dr Bonnici, who has held numerous press conferences on the case, denied that it was a personal vendetta against Dr Azzopardi.

"It is you who should have done this," he told journalists.

"This is why there are independent journalists," he added.

It is the PL's tactic to throw mud - PN

In a statement, the Nationalist Party accused Dr Bonnici of clutching at straws.

It said that what Dr Bonnici was insinuating was not logical and facts showed that Dr Azzopardi had never been called to give evidence.

It was the Labour Party's tactic to invent lies and thow mud to dirty others, the PN said adding that even this strategy had failed because Transparency International had declared the Joseph Muscat government as the most corrupt in Maltese history.