Updated 4.10pm: Adds David Casa's reply

MEPs Miriam Dalli and David Casa went head to head on Thursday, trading charges and insults in statements and on social media.

After Mr Casa in the morning challenged MEP Marlene Mizzi and Dr Dalli to state unequivocally that they did not believe the contents of the FIAU reports he released earlier this week, Dr Dalli issued a statement saying Mr Casa had lost any credibility he might have had now that the  conclusions of the magisterial inquiry into the Egrant allegations had been published.

She recalled how Mr Casa had rushed to speak on television to say that Egrant belonged to the Muscat family.

"He did not shy away from endorsing the lie and declared that there existed 'declared facts' about it. What Casa called as facts have been certified as a lie by the magisterial inquiry into the Egrant allegation," Dr Dalli said.

She said Mr Casa seemed to have forgotten that he stuck his neck out and did everything to fan and give credibility to allegations that have turned out to be nothing more than a lie. He felt comfortable repeating the lies and defending those who involved in a lie at the expense of the country.

Dr Dalli said that now that there was a magisterial inquiry showing that the lie was a political frame-up based on false documents and signatures, Mr Casa should appear before the people and explain why he defended individuals whose testimony was found to be conflicting by the inquiry.

Dr Dalli also said that once Magistrate Aaron Bugeja's inquiry revealed that the Egrant allegation was a lie, Mr Casa rushed to publish a document - which the FIAU claimed had been tampered with.

On Monday, Mr Casa published the full version of a draft FIAU report showing how €1.3 million was wired to Dubai-based company 17 Black.

The FIAU said that same day the document had been re-typed, and contained "several discrepancies, omissions and inaccurate reproductions of text".

"Mr Casa's excuse, Dr Dalli said, was that the report was re-typed to protect the source. If he was so concerned about protecting people, why did he not protect the name of the FIAU analyst, who was allegedly involved in the compilation of the document," she asked.

In a reply on Facebook, Mr Casa said Dr Dalli was continuing to disgrace the office she held.

"She has continued to use a part-published inquiry that had little to do with Konrad Mizzi to clear her former boss from wrongdoing and discredit my work.

"She has cowered away from accepting my challenge to state her position clearly so that she can be held accountable for her deception," Mr Casa said as he again asked Dr Dalli whether she would accept his challenge.