Nationalist MP Tonio Fenech, chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, insisted today that an urgent meeting of the committee, scheduled for this evening, will go ahead, despite claims by the government that its members could not attend.

The meeting was convened after the Speaker ruled on Monday that the Public Accounts Committee could request the government to produce the contract awarded to Henley and Partners for the administration of the citizenship scheme.

Mr Fenech told timesofmalta.com that Labour whip Carmelo Abela had told committee officials that it was not possible for Labour MPs to attend because of other commitments.

Mr Fenech said he was disappointed by the government's tactics to cancel the meeting.

He said that if a number of government MPs could not be present because of parliamentary duties, solutions could be found for the PAC meeting to still be held.

He was sure that with a little bit of effort, the government, which has 39 MPs, could find at least one MP to ensure that the committee had a quorum and the meeting could proceed.

Meanwhile, Mr Abela told timesofmalta.com that the meeting was called yesterday for today. Government MPs who are members of the committee had other commitments and could not attend at such short notice.

He said he did not see the urgency for the meeting, given that another meeting had already been scheduled for June 3. The Speaker's ruling itself did not speak of urgency.

It appeared that the opposition's urgency stemmed from partisan political interests ahead of the EP elections and the opposition was therefore not acting in good faith, Mr Abela said.

The PAC is formed of seven MPs - four from the government and three from the opposition. They are appointed to the PAC by resolution of the House.