Prime Minister Joseph Muscat insisted yesterday he would publish the conclusions of an internal investigation on the Gaffarena land expropriation case despite the law precluding him from doing so.

The Internal Audit and Investigation Department has been asked to probe the expropriation deal of a Valletta property for which Mark Gaffarena got cash and land in exchange.

While confirming that the law governing the IAID prevented the department from publishing any of its findings, the government said the Prime Minister would still publish the report when he received it from his permanent secretary.

“The Prime Minister’s decision to publish the report of the internal investigation will not break any law,” a spokesman for the Office of the Prime Minister insisted.

For the sake of full transparency the report will be published

Asked by Times of Malta to indicate the article of the law which allowed the Prime Minister to publish an internal IAID report, the spokesman did not reply. Instead he said: “The law precludes the IAID from publishing the report, not the Prime Minister.” Saying the Prime Minister would receive a copy of the report from Mario Cutajar, the Principal Permanent Secretary, the spokesman added: “Dr Muscat decided that, for the sake of full transparency and the questions being raised, the report will be published.”

Prior to the Prime Minister’s declaration, both Tourism Minister Edward Zammit Lewis and IAID director general Kenneth Farrugia said the law prohibited them from making public any investigative report issued by the IAID.

The Prime Minister called for an internal investigation after Parliament asked the National Audit Office to look into the matter.

The NAO’s conclusions will be presented to Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee and published.