Lawyer Ann Fenech, president of the PN executive council, has written a detailed letter to Tourism Minister Edward Zammit Lewis in which she insisted that he apologize for attempting to tarnish her reputation in comments he made on Xarabank on Friday.
The issue came up when, during the programme, PN deputy leader Beppe Fenech Adami referred to consultancies given to unqualified 'party boys'.
In his reply, Dr Zammit Lewis mentioned Dr Fenech eight times, implying that she was given consultancies worth some €600,000.
Dr Fenech said he had implied that she was given these consultancies because she was the president of the Nationalist Party and not on the basis of merit. It was also implied that she had personally pocketed the money.
Dr Fenech said she never received any consultancies with any ministry. Fenech and Fenech Advocates, where she worked, was not her firm but she is merely a partner in the firm together with others.
During 2008 - 2012, the firm was appointed to handle the privatisation of the four sections of Malta Shipyards. The then head of the Privatisation Unit, Emanuel Ellul had personally called at her office stating that given the subject matter and her expertise in the maritime sector he wanted to ensure that she was free to act for the Privatisation Unit rather than any potential bidders, Dr Fenech said.
The firm had also been appointed to assist the Attorney General in the action of the Commission vs. Malta before the European Court of Justice relating to the public service obligation contract awarded to Gozo Channel. Malta won the case, with costs.
Dr Fenech said she had also been asked to conduct the informal maritime inquiry into the disappearance of the Simshar fishing boat.
She said the work done during this six-year period involved 12 lawyers at Fenech and Fenech Advocates. The fees charged were not €600,000 as claimed by the minister but €464,111.
The fees were not paid to her but to the firm.
Throughout this time, Dr Fenech said, she occupied no post, official or unofficial within the Nationalist Party.
She said the minister was fully aware of her credentials in the maritime sector including her election last year to the Executive Council of the Comite Maritime International, the first Maltese to hold the post.