Bhatti, the owner of Swiss companies Accutor AG and Spring X Media, had hired Muscat as a consultant shortly after he resigned as Prime Minister.

Accutor AG had done payroll management for Steward Healthcare, and Muscat’s relationship with the firm saw him subjected to a police search on his home last month as part of a magisterial inquiry into the hospital concession.

When it revealed this relationship last November, Times of Malta also published an email that Fenech had sent Bhatti in December 2018, three weeks after he was revealed to be the owner of 17 Black.

Fenech told Bhatti that he is looking to “set up a structure for my personal business which gives a certain level of discretion and peace of mind” and that he is listing the initial activities he envisages.

He said he was referred to Bhatti by “a common friend from Malta”.

According to Times of Malta, the email went on to specify that Fenech wanted Bhatti’s help in moving money of Ajman, the emirate where 17 Black was registered, and in setting up two new companies, one of which would be funded by 17 Black.

Muscat played down the implications of this email, denying that he was the “common friend” Fenech had referred to and arguing it would have only been an issue if Bhatti had indeed helped Fenech move his money out of the company.

“If you look at all the people which the Fenechs have dealt with over the years, I think all of Malta had some sort of deals with them,” he argued. “What I’m telling you is that yes, it seems that Yorgen Fenech asked for his help and according to [Bhatti], he didn’t follow it up.”

He denied that the email looks bad on him considering he had resigned as Prime Minister in the first place because Fenech had been arrested for the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.

“I don’t think it looks bad on me, it might look bad on other people,” he said. 

“My point is if he had followed it up and there was some transfer or something, then yes, that’s an issue, but he said he didn’t follow it up.”

“Maybe he did his due diligence… as you said, this was after he was outed as the owner of the company, and he decided not to get involved in that.”

“By the way, as far as I know, [Yorgen Fenech] was still banked by various banks in Malta. Is that an issue with those banks? I don’t think so.”

Muscat refused to disclose exactly what work he did for Bhatti, stating the information was covered by professional secrecy and that it pertained to “infrastructural projects in a number of continents involving very high-ranking companies from across the world”.

“I gave full details to the magistrate; they are international projects and none of them have anything to do with Malta.”

What did you think of the first part of Joseph Muscat’s interview?