The Prime Minister’s position is no longer tenable, PN leader Simon Busuttil said today. He should resign with immediate effect in the wake of the serious allegations being made against him.
Each extra day he stays on as Prime Minister, Joseph Muscat is causing irreparable damage to the country.
Addressing the media, Dr Busuttil mentioned the resignations of Iceland’s former Prime Minister and Spain’s former Transport Minister (both were named in the Panama Papers) as he asked why such obscenities take place in Malta yet no one shoulders political responsibility.
He said that this morning he had met President Marie Louise Coleiro Preca to repeat what he said yesterday during the protest against corruption: that the Prime Minister should go.
He would not tell the media what the President told him during the meeting but noted that her statement said that while the President's powers were limited, "she will exercise what powers she has”; and that the law needed to be observed by everyone.
He raised serious doubts over the credibility of the inquiry, specifically with Police Commissioner Lawrence Cutajar’s conduct on Thursday night. “Instead of sealing off Pilatus Bank and starting an investigation the police commissioner went for a fenkata,” he said.
Dr Busuttil said that the police commissioner only acted after he was told by the Prime Minister to launch an inquiry into reports that the PM’s wife was the owner of a company named Egrant which was opened in Panama. “It was shocking to see bank’s owner leave with two bags from the premises” he said.
The Prime Minister has been caught lying in various instances since this scandal erupted, Dr Busuttil said. It is just not right that the Prime Minister retains his place also at a time when he is being investigated on such a serious matter.
He said that although an inquiry has been launched, no terms of reference have been made public.
He called on the magistrate carrying out the iqnuiry to investigate two reports by the FIAU on the Panama Papers scandal, as well as a report by the MFSA that had flagged shortcomings at Pilatus Bank regarding money laundering legislation.
Dr Busuttil also said that the inquiry should investigate whether or not the Prime Minister’s chief of staff, Keith Schembri, held an account at the bank; or whether Azerbaijani ministers held accounts there too.
PL reaction
Reacting, the Labour Party said that despite all his declarations and noise, the Opposition Leader had not presente a shred of evidence to back up his claims. “Busuttil cannot present the proof because it does not exist,” the PL said in a statement, reiterating that Simon Busuttil had embarked on a campaign of lies.
It said the PN leader was panicking and with his back against the wall because he had based his claims on lies that had been shown to be untrue when Brian Tonna publihed documents that showed that Egrant belonged to him and him alone.
The PL also insisted that the transcripts published by Daphne Caruana Galizia were fakes.