The claims that PN deputy leader Beppe Fenech Adami had stalled an investigation into money laundering had been shown to be mudslinging by the government, Opposition leader Simon Busuttil said this morning.

An inquiry by three retired judges, published on Friday, found that while the police probe had been stopped, it was inconclusive when it came to allegations of political interference from Dr Fenech Adami.

The inquiry was launched last October following a report by Malta Today which said that the 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.

“Because it was Beppe [Fenech Adami], an inquiry was launched that same day and yet it has been a year since the Panama scandal and yet no inquiry into Keith Schembri and Konrad Mizzi was ever launched,” Dr Busuttil said.

The Prime Minister, he went on, has time and time again resorted to mudslinging whenever he is shoved into a corner, resorting to unfounded attacks against the Opposition.

Also addressing those at the Marsa club, Dr Fenech Adami said that while Dr Muscat had asked for an inquiry into claims that he had intervened in the investigation, an inquiry that lasted four months, he had yet to investigate claims about his chief of staff and minister.

“Three former magistrates were appointed to investigate me and these took four months and left no stone unturned in attempt to crucify me but the bubble burst in his face.

“Yet this was all in vain as the inquiry proves I did nothing wrong. Meanwhile, as I was being investigated, Dr Muscat has continued to defend Keith Schembri and Konrad Mizzi,” Dr Fenech Adami said.