The Labour Party and the PN have continued their tit-for-tat on the case of a businessman who was given €400,000 in compensation for a plot of land which was expropriated during the Mintoff era. The PL says government experts had valued the land at €60,000 but Dr Azzopardi is insisting that the government leaked only part of the file and that everything was done above board.

In a statement the PL said Jason Azzopardi resorted to attacks on people who worked at the Lands Department during his tenure as minister to justify his political intervention in the case. Emails published in the press show, it said, that then Prime Minsiter Lawrence Gonzi and Jason Azzopardi, who was responsible for the Lands Department, intervened directly. The owner, Michele Peresso, had even thanked Dr Gonzi for his intervention.

The Labour Party said Jason Azzopardi had now turned his guns on the experts who made the original valuation, saying that just because they came up with the €60,000 figure did not mea that they were right. These experts had told Dr Azzopardi that they could not understand how the price could be raised further but, after the political intervention, it was increases seven-fold.

“Jason Azzopardi is refusing to explain why he did not accept the valuation of the Commissioner for Lands and the government architects, who told him they could not understand how the price could increase by so much. He has confirmed his double standards when he attacked Parliamentary Secretary Michael Falzon when he has a lot of explaining to do. This time he has nowhere to run because there is clear and documented evidence.”

The PL also said that, after weeks of preaching about political honesty, PN Leader Simon Busuttil is now using a different measure when it comes to one of his shadow ministers, now that he is faced with a serious case of political interference on an expropriation case.

In reply the PN said Joseph Muscat is desperate to draw the attention away from the scandals surrounding him. “Everyone now knows how Joseph Muscat starts making things up and deviating whenever he has his back to the wall. Once again his bubble has burst and even the businessman in question has contradicted what Joseph Muscat is claiming.”

The PN said the hard-headed Prime Minister has lost all sense of credibility and is refusing to take action on any of the number of scandals before him. “Instead of rambling about what might have happened in the past, Joseph Muscat should explain why people were only given 58 cents a week while Marco Gaffarena was given a deal worth €3,500,000.”