Speaking at a press conference at the National Labour Centre in Hamrun, Dr Falzon said that the PAC can call on the people who were involved in the purchase of the Brussels property to testify in public so that the facts can be ascertained.

The PAC can also ask the Auditor-General to investigate the purchase of this property, he said.

How did the Prime Minister not refer this case to the Auditor-General while at the same time he referred the case of the purchase of airline tickets by former Minister John Dalli, Dr Falzon asked.

The second case is “very secondary” when compared to that of the purchase of Dar Malta, he said.

Dr Falzon said that the purchase of the Brussels property showed yet again that the Nationalist government was insensitive to the people’s needs.

In which democratic country does an person who is unelected and unaccountable to the people, such as Richard Cachia Caruana, has the power and the blessing to make such an expense to the tune of Lm10 million at the expense of the people, he asked.

Dr Falzon also criticised the fact that Maltese workers will not be able to work on the modernisation works that Dar Malta will require, an expense of more than Lm2.5 million.

He said that the parts of the building which are most commercially viable are already occupied and were not included in the purchase of the property by the Maltese government.

On his part, Labour’s spokesman on European Union (EU) affairs, George Vella, said that EU rules state that tenders must be issued for works exceeding 5 million EUROS in worth.

However the Maltese government did not follow the EU guidelines and instead made a direct agreement with the Belgian agency Cofinimmo about the refurbishment works at the Brussels property, which do exceed the EU limit, he said.

Dr Vella said that the government’s insistence on the capital gains it claims it would be making on the purchase of the Brussels property jar when compared to the sale of Mid-Med Bank to HSBC at a very low price.

He said that an ideal place for retail outlets would not be in the political centre of Brussels, where the property is situated, but at the retail centre of the city, which is situated elsewhere.

Dr Vella said that the benefits of EU membership will not come as a result of the position where the embassy is situated, but from its performance, which so far has not been good, judging from the money lost as a result of government’s lack to benefit from an EU programme on immigration.

Finally, Labour’s spokesman on foreign affairs, Leo Brincat, said that public deficit will be 10 per cent off the mark because of the purchase of Dar Malta.

He also asked for a full explanation as to why the Auditor-General did not feel the need to investigate this case on his own initiative as empowered by law, as he did on other matters of lesser importance.