Mr Buhagiar, who was speaking during adjournment time in parliament yesterday evening, said he will be instituting libel proceedings against Mr Agius in order to give him (Mr Agius) the opportunity to prove the allegations he made about him.

Mr Buhagiar quoted an article carried by The Malta Independent the day after the Nationalist Party activity at the PN club in Ta’ Xbiex on 3 October.

During his speech, Mr Agius accused Malta Labour Party MP Charles Buhagiar of negligence, adding that roadworks carried out in Dingli had had to be halted and will probably have to be redone.

He continued that the Labour-led Dingli council had commissioned Architect Buhagiar to carry out government-funded roadworks. He also said that Mr Buhagiar never inspected the site and as a

consequence the work was not done properly.

In parliament yesterday, Mr Buhagiar read the article and replied to each statement individually. He said he was not commissioned as the architect in his personal capacity but the company for which he works – Med Design Consultants – had won a tender for roadworks in Dingli.

Mr Buhagiar said he had visited the site on a number of occasions but after the work had started, it was another architect who worked for the same firm who went on site on a regular basis to follow the progress being made.

Mr Buhagiar continued that the work had not been halted but work on site had stopped because of a water reservoir which had to be constructed off-site. Moreover, he said, the work will not have to be redone. If it did have to be redone, it would not be at the expense of public funds but at the expense of the contractor, he said.

Regarding the fact that Mr Agius had questioned the choice of Mr Buhagiar, calling it “a coincidence”, Mr Buhagiar said it was not a coincidence at all. “The company I work for won a tender. As much as we have not been awarded tenders in the past, for this one we were

chosen,” he said. Mr Buhagiar also commented about Mr Agius’ claim that the work had been done badly on purpose, to accommodate “friends of friends”. Mr Buhagiar said this was the fruit of Mr Agius’ imagination and he continued that Mr Agius will have the opportunity to prove his claims in court. “I did not expect this from a colleague,” he said.