The way Prime Minister Joseph Muscat is trying to defend his minister – Anton Refalo – brings about suspicions, the PN said in a statement.

The PN asked why he is defending the Gozo minister so much. This, the PN said, is the most pertinent of questions Dr Muscat should answer to and state what information he has in hand, when he first received it and to admit that he lied when he said he learnt of the alleged Gozo construction case from the media.

“Why didn’t the government go straight to the police when it got to know about the alleged case?” the PN asked.

Unfortunately, the PN continued, we have a Prime Minister who is so eager to engage in mudslinging that he conveniently fails to read what is said in the newspapers.

“This morning, a section of the media published the details of a meeting held between the Opposition leader and Mr Joe Cauchi, including the content of the e-mail exchange,” the PN said.

Mr Cauchi is the whistleblower in this case.

“For some odd reason, Dr Muscat either did not see this explanation in the newspaper or wanted to deceive the public and spin the truth,” the PN statement further read.