Opposition Leader Simon Busuttil has declared that he does not want to testify before the parliamentary privileges committee to answer to allegations he made against the Prime Minister.

The Opposition Leader’s lawyer said that Dr Busuttil does not want to subject himself to questions made by government MPs.

A government statement said that the Prime Minister had been the first to testify and had been scrutinised by the Opposition and by Parliament.

This made it clear that the Opposition Leader is not ready to answer to allegations he had made, and this is a confirmation that what he had said was not the truth and could not be substantiated.

In a democracy, the Opposition Leader had responsibilities to carry, the government said. Dr Busuttil had again failed a credibility test.

Dr Muscat had raised a breach of privileges complaint against Dr Busuttil on comments made about interference in the John Dalli case.

In reply, the Nationalist Party said that the OPM statement is built on false pretexts.

The Opposition Leader is accused by the Prime Minister for what he said about political interference in the John Dalli case.

The PN said that in today’s Parliamentary Privileges Committee, the members representing the Opposition said that Dr Busuttil had nothing more to add or withdrawn, adding that what Dr Busuttil said will be substantiated through various witnesses he will be summoning.

When the Opposition tried to bring forward such proof, the government members created obstacles. They asked for a list of witnesses and the reason for their summoning when, it is known, every person who is accused of something has a right to defend himself.

The Opposition said that in February it requested the testimony of OLAF chairman Giovanni Kessler. Today, the government had again objected to this.