The Finance Ministry said this afternoon that a recent case of alleged fraud at the VAT Department which it has referred to the police, involved a public officer who was offered €100 'to hasten a process'. 

Asked what this process was, a spokesman for the ministry said he had no further information at this stage.

The ministry said in its statement that the official immediately informed his superiors about the case and they referred the allegation to the police commissioner.

timesofmalta.com reported about the case earlier in the afternoon but at the time a  spokesman for the ministry would only say that the ministry had received a report about the case and that the police had been called. He refused to give any more details when asked about the money and the number of people involved, "in order not to hinder police investigations".

The ministry however, issued its statement after three hours.

The VAT Department was rocked by a scandal in 2009 when several businessmen and department employees were taken to court and convicted.

Following this case, legal amendments were made as part of a series of measures taken at the department to address serious shortcomings highlighted in an internal report that identified "a grave risk" of insider fraud.

More VAT inspectors were employed and a new unit was set up to carry out controls and internal audits. Increased controls were also introduced for refund claims.