Finance Minister Tonio Fenech has lambasted the Labour Party for “mounting an attack” and pressuring him to resign.

“My position is determined by the Prime Minister not (opposition leader) Joseph Muscat,” he told the press yesterday evening when questioned during a video conference from Brussels.

Dr Muscat on Monday said Mr Fenech’s position was untenable and if he did not resign, the Prime Minister should sack him.

But Mr Fenech said it was Dr Muscat who should be answering questions about whether such an attack went contrary to the code of ethics he had formulated in 2008 for party journalists. Mr Fenech did not explain exactly what parts of the code had been broken.

“Joseph Muscat in this situation is acting as a prosecutor, judge and jury. I think he must decide what he is,” Mr Fenech said.

“I have had many opportunities to rebut what he said. But the Labour Party decided it should mount a wholesale attack in my regard. I believe that when they have nothing to attack a person with – we’re used to it now – the Labour Party starts throwing mud.”

Dr Muscat believes Mr Fenech should resign because of the recently tabled VAT department audit report, which revealed a “grave risk” of fraud, and the guilty plea filed by a former member of Mr Fenech’s secretariat, Noel Borg Hedley, 67, of Gżira, who admitted to bribery charges in court last week.

“He was involved in one error of judgment after another and has to go. His position is indefensible and it cannot be described in any other way than incompetence,” Dr Muscat said, adding that the Prime Minister was acting as Mr Fenech’s political bodyguard.