Economy Minister Chris Cardona this morning insisted he was in his German hotel at the time he was allegedly visiting a brothel and he would prove this in court.

Fielding questions from reporters outside a conference on island economies, Dr Cardona said he would clear his name in a number of libel suits he had instituted following claims had visited a brothel.

The minister said he would wait until the court proceedings because the onus of proof was on the source of the allegations and because he had full confidence in the Maltese justice system.

Blogger Daphne Caruana Galizia has claimed an eyewitness saw Dr Cardona at the FKK Acapulco club just outside Dusseldorf.

The FKK Acapulco advertises itself as a "sauna club", with services including stripteases, gogo girls and "30 fully air-conditioned top suites".

Ms Caruana Galizia claimed that the minister had been spotted at the club in the company of an unidentified "short and bald" man.

This man was later identified as EU Presidency policy officer Joe Gerada. Mr Gerada briefly accompanied the minister at this morning’s conference but left before the minister was asked questions by reporters.

Meanwhile, Dr Cardona said he had spoken to Prime Minister Joseph Muscat as soon as the allegations had been made to assure him that these were baseless. Asked why he thought Dr Muscat had not publicly supported him, Dr Cardona said that was not for him to say.

NATIONALIST PARTY'S REACTION

In a reaction, the Nationalist Party said Dr Cardona had confirmed that the problem for the country was Joseph Muscat, who had lost all moral authority to lead the government.

In contrast to what the people were believing, the prime minister was believing his deputy leader, despite the details about his presence in a brothel in Germany while on an official visit. 

Dr Muscat had been found to have lied, but Dr Muscat, instead of acting against him, was believing his lies.  

Dr Cardona will reply to questions on TimesTalk which will be uploaded on this website tomorrow.