Justice Minister Owen Bonnici said today that the “70 false invoices presented in court today” during the Tony Debono hearing “constitute 70 lies made by Dr Busuttil since he (Dr Busuttil) kept insisting that the works-for-votes issue is part of a mudslinging campaign”.

He was speaking during a news conference held at the PL headquarters this afternoon. He emphasised that he would not comment on Mr Debono – the husband of former PN minister Giovanna Debono - directly since Mr Debono has a right to a fair trial but said that only political comments would be made at this stage.

PL MP Deborah Schembri said that as the works for votes court case continues, the more information is emerging on the issue.

She said that PN leader Simon Busuttil and former secretary general Chris Said had publically stated that they got to know about the works for votes issue after reading an article in a newspaper. A clip of both Dr Busuttil’s and Dr Said’s declarations was also aired for members of the media present.

Now, she continued, it emerged in court that what they said was untrue since the whistleblower has testified that he had requested a meeting with them both.

Ms Schembri also said the fact Dr Busuttil issued a statement today with an email attached stating that the whistleblower wanted to meet him in private about an ‘issue of which may be of a concern for you (Dr Busuttil) in the future’ continues to confirm that Dr Busuttil had been made aware of the works-for-votes scandal. This, she continued, explains why Dr Busuttil and company did not push for a WhistleBlower Act to be enacted at the time when the PN was in government.