Joseph Muscat yesterday sidestepped a question regarding the different versions given by him and the PL deputy leader over what the Opposition leader knew about a drugs case at a Labour Party club.

Dr Muscat had at first denied any knowledge then stated he had been made aware of the issue, after letters to the Labour leader from the barman at the centre of the case were published by the Nationalist Party.

Dr Abela had told The Times in an interview last Saturday that Dr Muscat “knew nothing” about the drugs case, which centres on reports of an individual at a Labour Party club being seen cutting a “white block”.

Dr Abela sacked the barman at the club but has come under pressure because he failed to inform police of the case.

Dr Muscat initially said he was unaware of the case but on Tuesday confirmed otherwise after the PN published the letters showing he was informed of the incident.

The Labour leader has attributed the different versions to confusion on his part. He said that up to last Sunday he was under the impression that the case had occurred at a party club in Attard – only to find out later that it was a club in Safi.

Dr Muscat said yesterday they had taken the matter seriously and asked the barman to leave, despite no hard evidence against him.

He continued to defend his deputy yesterday for choosing to sack the Safi Labour club’s barman over suspicions he knew of drug activities in the club, rather than filing a police report.

Dr Muscat said there was nothing he felt he should reverse in Dr Abela’s decision.

He also said the matter was not reported to the police “because there was no evidence and because the people involved did not want to testify”.

He was replying to questions by The Times over whether he thought his and Dr Abela’s positions were still tenable now it had emerged that he (Dr Muscat) had been informed about the case from the outset.

When pressed on whether it was up to the police, not the party, to determine any evidence or whether people wanted to testify, especially since the club president said he had witnessed the drug preparation, Dr Muscat said: “It was a case of his word against that of another person so we decided to deal with the matter by asking him to leave.”

Dr Muscat said the barman was being used by the PN and that the onus was now on the Prime Minister to state when he found out about the matter and whether he had gone to the police with the evidence.