Former General Workers Union general secretary and former part-time consultant at OPM Tony Zarb has told the BBC to keep its “HANDS OF(F) MALTA)”.

He also described the people who used Newsnight ‘s feature about the brutal assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia to insult the Prime Minister and the country as “traitors”.

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat fielded difficult questions from BBC Newsnight’s James Sweeney where he was described as the “Artful Dodger of Europe” and the “passport-seller-in-chief” when facing questions concerning the sale of passports, his relationship with the Azeri ruling family and the Egrant allegations.

In a post in Maltese littered with mistakes uploaded yesterday, Tony Zarb rose to the defence of the Prime Minister.

“After the Prime Minister accepted to be interviewed by a foreigner, who along with some Maltese traitors insulted the Prime Minister and Malta… (this) is not acceptable for the genuine people of Malta and Gozo.

“This action should be condemned and I will say again that for the genuine people of Malta and Gozo this is not acceptable.”

The post concludes with Zarb telling the BBC to keep its “HANDS OF(F) MALTA.”

Zarb, who in 2015 was given the Gieh ir-Repubblika award, was in hot water a few weeks ago after labelling women protesting outside the PM’s office in Castille as traitors and likening them to prostitutes.

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, Minister Helena Dalli, Parliamentary Secretary Julia Farrugia Portelli, and the GWU had all condemned the remarks.