The Foreign Ministry has launched an internal investigation into claims that a ministry official falsified documents to help alleged smugglers move fuel from Libya to Italy.

The ministry said this morning that the investigation has been launched although no information had yet been given that this was the case.

The claim was made by an Italian news outlet which said that investigators in Catania looking into the case have homed in on alleged contacts Darren Debono, a onetime Malta football international arrested by Italian police two weeks ago, had with unnamed people within the ministry. 

The contacts, Il Sole 24 Ore alleged in an article published late last week, allowed Mr Debono to obtain official certificates of origin for the smuggled diesel.  

READ: Two Maltese among suspects in Italian fuel smuggling investigation

According to the news outlet, two such documents were signed by a 'legalisation officer' at the Foreign Affairs Ministry. The documents were initialed 'K.M'.

The ministry also said that it would assist in any other investigation on the case.

The news outlet says Mr Debono had a meeting at the ministry on January 29, 2016 and also cites an intercepted phone call Mr Debono is alleged to have made to an Italian interlocutor working for Maxcom Petroli, the Italian holding company at the centre of investigations. 

In the 3 June 2016 phone call, Mr Debono allegedly told Marco Porta that he was at the Foreign Affairs Ministry. 

"There's a 55-year-old woman who's been working here for 30 years and she's saying 'ahh I'm in charge, I do this because I'm the only one who can sign'... ehhm and before the minister didn't even tell me... ehhm... to sign, but all was ok'."

According to Il Sole 24 Ore, Catania investigators believe Mr Debono is referring to the official paperwork the ministry official was to prepare. 

Mr Debono is one of several people arrested by Italian police last month in connection to what they say was a €30 million fuel smuggling operation which moved more than 80 million kilogrammes of gasoil from Libya to Italy.