Updated 11.54pm - Added Fenech Adami comments

Labour Party deputy leader Chris Cardona this morning called on Opposition leader Simon Busuttil to "take action" against Beppe Fenech Adami, in the wake of what Dr Cardona described as the "very damning conclusions" of the inquiry published yesterday evening.

Speaking at a press conference, Dr Cardona said that the inquiry's conclusions were very serious and "unprecedented for a politically exposed pension". 

But in a reply, Dr Fenech Adami said that the inquiry had very clearly stated that he had in no way interfered in any investigations or abused of his political position and that the PL was hell-bent on "lying about me with no shame".

The inquiry was launched last October following a Malta Today story which said that a police investigation into money laundering had stalled, just two months before the 2013 general election, as soon as Dr Fenech Adami's name had cropped up. 

At the time the PN deputy leader was a parliamentary assistant and the director of a fiduciary company which administered Capital One. The latter was being investigated in Holland over money laundering and drug trafficking.

Though the inquiry published yesterday confirmed that the police probe had been stopped, it was inconclusive when it came to allegations of political interference from Dr Fenech Adami.

Yet it noted that when the PN deputy leader's name had cropped up, the police probe became "a very hot potato" which could have led to unpleasant consequences to whom would have had the courage to investigate further.

READ: Inquiry confirms investigation stopped abruptly

It recommended that the police and the Financial Intelligence Audit Unit should investigate further to establish why the Capital One investigation had stalled.

Cardona urges Busuttil to 'walk the talk'

Speaking at this morning's news conference at the Labour Party headquarters, Dr Cardona noted that this incident happened at a time when Dr Fenech Adami was the 'de facto' justice minister.

He also questioned whether it was by pure coincidence that Dr Fenech Adami's bank account had soared to a €1 million at the same time that millions were being deposited in the Capital One bank account.

The PL deputy leader said that if Dr Busuttil wanted to fight corruption he should "walk the talk" and take action. However, he would not as the Opposition leader had already shown he was "too weak" to stand up to other PN MPs like Jason Azzopardi, Toni Bezzina and Giovanna Debono, he added.

Earlier Justice Minister Owen Bonnici pointed out that the inquiry had found that some documents in the police file pertaining to bank transactions from Capital One's bank account had gone missing, and were only recovered from the bank itself.

Asked by journalists to indicate which part of the inquiry had concluded that Dr Fenech Adami had interfered in the police investigation, Dr Bonnici insisted that there was "hard evidence" that somebody had stopped the investigation and that documents from the police file had gone missing.

At the same time such allegations of political interference from Dr Fenech Adami had not been excluded, he added.

'Muscat's tactics are see-through' - Fenech Adami

Speaking on Radio 101, Dr Fenech Adami accused the two PL ministers of lying through their teeth.

"The inquiry clearly states that I never interfered in any investigations or abused of my position. What these ministers are saying is a lie, just like the many other lies they've told." 

He challenged the PL to find "a single sentence" in the report that suggested he had acted abusively in this case. 

"I'm mentioned three times in the entire report, which states in the clearest possible way that nowhere does it appear that I interfered or abused of my position." 

Dr Fenech Adami said the PL's reaction to the inquiry findings was typical of the party. 

"Muscat's tactics are see-through," the PN deputy leader said. "He appointed not one, not two but three former judges to investigate this case in the hope they would find something to tarnish me with. They didn't find the slightest thing."

He compared the Capital One inquiry to another one into allegations that "two senior politicians" had intervened to let two Gozitan youths accused of drug trafficking off the hook. 

"In that case, they appointed someone without the clout of a former judge, and who is close to the Labour Party. They haven't even published that inquiry's terms of reference. The message is clear," Dr Fenech Adami said. "He doesn't want justice to be done."