Updated - adds videos, comments by Austin Gatt
The account which Infrastructure Minister Austin Gatt holds in a Swiss bank was never listed in his declaration of assets to Parliament, despite Dr Gatt having held a ministerial position since 1998, Labour Leader Joseph Muscat said this evening.
"This raises more doubts and more questions," he said.
(Dr Gatt said he had declared the Swiss bank account up to 2005 but, he admitted, he had made a mistake in not including it since. Speaking on TVHemm he explained that he had inherited the account from his late parents and had not made any deposits in it. He said he would give the police access to it so that they could confirm his statement)
Referring to Dr Gatt's press conference, where he denied involvement in the oil procurement scandal, Dr Muscat said the press conference revealed yet another contradiction in this issue. Whereas until three days ago Dr Gatt was saying he did not remember meeting an agent of oil procurement companies in Malta, he had now admitted meeting him about once every three months.
Dr Muscat, who was being interviewed on television programme TX, said there was also a contradiction on the subject of the meetings since the e-mails showed these had nothing to do with constituency matters.
He said Dr Gatt's press conference also raised eyebrows since there were people who had to testify on this issue and who now know his version.
"Was the statement Dr Gatt gave to the police different to what he said publicly? Was there anything he said to the police which he did not say today?"
Dr Muscat said Dr Gatt's statement and contradictions placed more responsibility on Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi, who had endorsed him.
"He is now politically responsible for the contradictions," he said.
"Austin Gatt took major decisions throughout this legislature and did not shoulder responsibility for them, such as BWSC and the Arriva fiasco. Anyone who has common sense can see how he is playing with words and taking people for a ride. He cannot even face the electorate because he is not contesting the election so the judgement turns onto Dr Gonzi," he said.
Asked about the presidential pardon, Dr Muscat said Dr Gonzi must have more information which is not in the public domain. He questioned what action the police could have taken without the granting of the pardon and whether the pardon would enable the police to have a stronger case which implicated more people.
Regarding the claim he made earlier today that a minister had intervened for someone to be released from custody, Dr Muscat referred to a reply by Dr Gatt in which he told his questioner that he did not remember whether this could have happened when he was general secretary of the Nationalist Party. Dr Muscat said that independently of whether he was minister or general secretary, it was a very serious case.
"For now I'll stop here on this," he added.
During the interview, Dr Muscat reiterated that the government's plans for a gas pipeline and floating terminal would cost €777. To back it up he quoted from the draft national energy policy and then admitted that this part,related to the costings, had been deleted from the final version. "What happened to the floating terminal idea?" He asked.