The day after Giovanna Debono resigned from the Nationalist Party, Labour come out in an attack on party leader Simon Busuttil.
Following claims made by a contractor, who alleged that he carried out works using public funds on orders from the husband of Giovanna Debono, her husband was arraigned in court yesterday. Shortly after, Mrs Debono announced her resignation and Chris Said was asked to step down from general secretary to focus on Gozo.
In a press conference this afternoon, Minister Owen Bonnici said Dr Busuttil still has a lot more to answer for in this regard. “He must say whether he knew of the allegations being made by the whistleblower for at least two years, what the whistleblower said and why he chose to do nothing about it,” Dr Bonnici said.
The Justice Minister also criticised the Leader of the Opposition for his stance when Mrs Debono announced she was resigning from the party: it does not matter, Dr Bonnici said, that it was her husband who was facing a trial; she was in it with him as well.
“Why is Dr Busuttil not condemning Mrs Debono’s actions?” he questioned.
Asked whether Dr Busuttil should be lauded for taking a stance in the same way Prime Minister Joseph Muscat did in the case involving former minister Manuel Mallia, Dr Bonnici said the two cases should not be compared.
Dr Busuttil said that if the public is to believe that Dr Said is being given a promotion, that would only mean that he is agreeing with the general secretary that the whistleblower’s claim did not imply abuse, adding that this stance is only being used after another election defeat in the recent local council elections.
Dr Bonnici noted that the whistleblower act was only implemented recently by the present administration.
PN reacts
In a reaction, the Nationalist Party said that it seems that for Dr Bonnici, legislation does not apply in the same manner for all, saying that allegations against Mr Debono have been brought forward but no investigation has been conducted on the allegations of fraud in Gozo in the past two years.
It seems that the government is choosing to defend Minister Anton Refalo without an investigation, and the PN will fight against this breach of law, the party said in a statment.
The PN stressed that the Leader of the Opposition has made it more than clear that he was never informed of the allegations against Mr Debono. If this criticism should be made on anyone, it should be the Prime Minister who kept the information on Anton Refalo Hidden.
The statment said that the Prime Minister should explain why he chose not to act in the following cases of abuse:
· Citizenship to Manuel Mallia’s wife only after two years of marriage
· Konrad’s Mizzi’s involvement in the SOCAR agreement
· Joe Mizzi’s negotations with Spanish company prior to agreement on public transport
· Permission for Ian Borg for developing two apartments in a senstitive environmental zone
· Luciano Busuttil’s conflict of interest as a lwayer for Cospicua’s local council
· Works on Helena Dalli’s farmhouse.