The Government has said that Mr Azopardi’s "latest lecture on conflicts of interest expose his own hypocritical blurred lines on the matter."

A statement continued: "In his obvious insistence to capitalise on the Openshaw Report at any available opportunity, Mr Azopardi conveniently ignores the fact that the law firm in which he and his GSD colleague Mr Bossino are both Directors, TSN, advises the Gibraltar Police Authority as its client, yet the GSD nonetheless have no qualms about criticising the GPA whenever they deem it politically favourable to do so.

"Mr Azopardi should, perhaps, consider the relevance of the term ‘smoke and mirrors.’ The simple fact is that Mr Greenberg is not instructed by Hassans but directly by the Government. Mr Greenberg has 30 years of experience specialising in legislation and the legislative process, and is the UK House of Commons Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards. As such, he is uniquely qualified on the subject of conflicts of interest and, as Mr Azopardi himself points out, he is an ‘unimpeachable professional.’

"Remarkably, Mr Azopardi seems to have forgotten that he, himself, is a former Hassans associate, which is surprising given his criticism of anyone who has been associated with that firm. Additionally, Mr Azopardi is proposing to give life membership of the GSD to Mr Daniel Feetham, who is a partner of Hassans.

"Those looking to read between the GSD’s blurred lines of politics and profit will see that Mr Bossino and Mr Azopardi are clearly just trying to promote the interests of TSN by seeking to veto the instruction of another."