George Farrugia has denied allegations he escaped from Malta on Sunday when the e-mail exchange with a top official at the Malta Resources Authority was published.
Speaking to Times of Malta through his lawyer, Siegfried Borg Cole, who accompanied Mr Farrugia abroad, he said the business trip to Rome was planned a week ago.
The two will be returning to Malta today, as scheduled.
“This is a big storm in a very small teacup,” Dr Borg Cole said, adding his client never ran away.
Asked about the possibility of his client losing the presidential pardon after it was revealed the latest case happened after 2005, Dr Borg Cole agreed it should be withdrawn if his client broke the conditions attached to it.
“We have no further comment to make and George Farrugia will speak to the police about the matter,” Dr Borg Cole said when asked whether his client had informed the police of this latest case.