Former Labour Prime Minister Alfred Sant said that he is not worried about the allegations of corruption and scandals that are hitting the Labour government, but admits that there are problems of governance that need to be addressed.

People accusing the Labour government of corruption are “exaggerating because it serves their purposes to do so”,  he said when being interviewed by Stephen Calleja, editor of The Malta Independent online, on INDEPTH.

Asked whether, if he were Prime Minister, he would have dismissed Minister Konrad Mizzi, who was embroiled in the Panama Papers scandal, Dr Sant said “I don’t know what I would have done because I was not in that position.” Different people behave in a different way, he said.

“I am not part of the government and I do not know what the Prime Minister’s calculations are. The Prime Minister has the right to shoulder his responsibilities and take the decisions he deems fit,” Dr Sant said.

 

During his time as Prime Minister, Dr Sant accepted the resignation of Justice Minister Charles Mangion after he took responsibility for requesting a presidential pardon for a prisoner convicted on drug charges without the consent of the Cabinet, a far less political misdemeanour when compared to the opening up of a secret company in Panama by Konrad Mizzi.