Opposition Leader Simon Busuttil awaits Prime Minister Joseph Muscat to present the list of people who were granted a passport through the passport scheme next week, when the scheme's monitoring committee meets on Tuesday.

He was speaking during a radio interview on Radio 101.

He explained that government had promised to lift the secrecy from the scheme after the insistence of the opposition.

Dr Busuttil again mentioned the scandal surrounding Identity Malta and the residency permits probe, saying that Home Affairs Minister Carmelo Abela lied to the public when he said that Chairman Joe Vella Bonnici was the one to prompt the investigation. "He had no idea what was going on under his nose," the opposition leader said.

He explains that he knows this because of a Security Services Committee meeting that was held, where he, as the opposition leader, is a member. He said that he will not be an accomplice in the Prime Minister's, and Minister Abela's lies.

"Joe Sammut being taken to court is just the tip of the iceberg.  Last year they released 14,000 residency permits to foreigners. That's as many immigrants came to Malta over the last 10 years". He said that it is obvious to say that one then suspects fraud and that documents were falsified. He also added that he hopes such dirt surrounding the abuses of residency permits would not extend to the sale of passports.

He questioned why government won't allow an independent investigation, and reiterated his call for an independent inquiry. "If there is such an inquiry, then they won't have control".

Dr Busuttil said Joe Vella Bonnici should have resigned or been removed, otherwise the Minister should accept responsibility. He mentioned that Dr Muscat is now in a bind considering they had selected Mr Vella Bonnici for the role.

Traffic

Turning to the traffic situation, Dr Busuttil said that one does not await thousands of people to be stuck in traffic for two hours. "If you spend one hour in the morning and one at night in traffic, then people are spending one day a week stuck in traffick. "This clearly shows that we have an incompetent transport minister.  He cannot blame his predecessor. Traffic has increased under him and he must carry the responsibility"

"We have a minister who throws out good ideas. A year ago I suggested one concrete way to reduce traffic congestion, to pay for church and private school transport". He explained that government currently pays for the transport of 30,000 public school children, and by paying for private and chirch school students this would double to 60,000. "They laughed and ridiculed the idea saying it would be too costly. But millions were given in transport subsidies".

"Why not use a proposal like this, by the opposition, to help solve the problem?". 

He explained that one does not await the Minister for Education to come out with a proposal that would include waking children up earlier for school.

He said that during the downpour earlier this week, people missed flights, missed operations, were an hour and a half late for work.

"Rain is not the problem, Joseph Muscat and Joe Mizzi are the problem".

Turning to the recently published PN pre-budget document titled - "sustainable growth, and dignity for all", Dr Busuttil highlighted the problem faced by the elderly, explaining that the number of elderly in poverty increased. He said the problem is here and now and a solution needs to be found where the elderly can live on their pension.

He said that continuous growth of the economy is good, however he warned of its sustainability. "It must not be based on one-offs, or things that can create problems in the future. This government increased debt by half a billion euros. That is not sustainable growth so we should avoid it. Hiring so many people in the public sector also means that we have to keep those wages, even if times get tough. We must ensure that our economy grows in a sustainable way so that if the world economic situation deteriorates, we would be in a strong position".

OPM statement

In a statement later, the Office of the Prime Minister said that the names of the people qualifying for citizenship through this programme are published with the list of people given citizenship.

“The opposition leader now wants personal details of these people as he feels that he is above the law, and that he has the right to information where the law does not give him, or any other politician, the right” the OPM said.

The Office of the Prime Minister said the programme has been described as serious processes and that the regulator evaluates and analyses the same programme.

“Government is committed to following the law that provides for transparency, and will also stay on the work of the regulator, whose report is made public”.