Police chief Angelo Gafa’ has the duty to open an investigation on former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat following a news article in which it was revealed that Muscat pockets €60,000 from a company which had links to another which took over the running of three hospitals, PN leader Bernard Grech said Saturday.

Repeating the call he made on Friday, Grech said that politicians cannot expect to be let off just because their political career is over.

They must remain accountable for their action in public office even when they retire, Grech said in an interview on the PN radio station.

Last Sunday, Times of Malta reported that Joseph Muscat was paid €60,000 in consultancy fees that came from a Swiss company that had received millions from Steward Health Care.

He said that the Maltese people are suffering the consequences of Muscat’s decisions as PM, which led to Malta’s grey-listing by the Financial Action Task Force. Today, it takes longer to process money transactions in banks because of stricter controls brought about because of such grey-listing, he said.

The police have the duty to investigate Muscat and also the duty to inform the public about it.

The PN leader said he understood situations when the police would not be in a position to speak about ongoing investigations so as not to jeopardise the outcome, but in cases such as Muscat’s the public had a right to know if the police had launched an investigation.

Minutes before Grech renewed his call, Gafa told a radio discussion programme that he will not say if Muscat is being investigated.

Asked about the PN parliamentary group’s statement regarding the cannabis law that will be debated in Parliament, Grech said that the law as presented by the government is different from the initial proposals it had made months ago. This is why the PN only took its official position now, and not at the start of the consultation period.

Grech said that the law as presented sends the message that taking drugs is normal, and this is something that the PN is opposing. The party had been in favour of decriminalising use of cannabis, but it cannot agree that cannabis use is considered as something normal. In a day and age where campaigns are taking place against smoking, one cannot send the message that using cannabis is acceptable.