Labour leader Alfred Sant yesterday tried to provoke a reaction from the government by “increasing the tendency of confusing issues, making ends meet where it suited him and closing his eyes on other matters.”

In a statement issued late yesterday evening in reply to Dr Sant's comments in the morning, the government said that it would limit itself to important observations that Dr Sant conveniently left out.

Parliamentary procedures today give the Opposition Leader the power to investigate any suspicions of irregularity or careless spending of public funds.

The Opposition Leader has the power to investigate and order the publication of documents deemed important in the course of the investigation. The Public Accounts Committee is controlled by the opposition, and it is a powerful tool in the search of truth.

“And because Dr Sant knows the truth but the truth is not useful to him, he chooses not to use it,” the government said.

He did not use it on the Brindisi port case; neither did he use it when the Freeport was privatised and has so far not confirmed that he will use it on the Sea Malta issue.

The government said that Dr Sant attacked Mimcol and Sea Malta chairman Ivan Falzon. In his search to discredit Mr Falzon, Dr Sant built a castle of imaginary theories.

The sale of Pender Place and Mercury House in St Julian’s was being done as part of the government’s plan to divest itself of assets that there is no need for it to control. There is no strategic reason for a prime site in St Julian’s, which has a potential for development, to remain in government control. The sale of this land was a simple form of privatisation that led to no complications which affected jobs or services.

The government said Dr Sant is so against privatisation that for him even the sale of land after a public call for tenders leads to suspicion. Dr Sant wanted that a piece of land in a residential and commercial area remains in the government’s control so that private entrepreneurs could not develop it, the statement added.

Dr Sant must know about this public call and he knew that this privatisation was taking place. But, as he had done in the Sea Malta case, he waited until the negotiations were about to be concluded to speak up and cause damage. “For Alfred Sant, all privatisation processes … are an opportunity to throw mud, create doubt and lead to suspicion.”

The connection of this transaction with the Brindisi port is superficial. The government is financing the Brindisi deal through Mimcol and therefore part of the income the government is expecting this year from the sale of the land in question will go to finance that expenditure. What is so suspicious about this simple fact, the government asked.

The government will keep its commitment to speak about the Sea Malta privatisation once the privatisation deal is concluded.

It said that Mr Falzon’s appointment is temporary until the company’s general meeting. He was appointed after the sudden resignation of former chairman Marlene Mizzi who, the government said, chose to leave because she was not in agreement with the privatisation process 13 months after it had been announced.

The government statement concluded by calling on Dr Sant to look for the truth in the Public Accounts Committee.