The exchanges at a distance over the past weeks between Opposition Leader Alfred Sant and Parliamentary Secretary Tony Abela reached their peak so far yesterday evening during a tough exchange during question time in Parliament.

On the one hand, Dr Sant insisted that Dr Abela’s use of his seal of office as parliamentary secretary on letters regarding his constituents was a conflict of interest.

On the other hand, Dr Abela repeated that Dr Sant’s revealing of details about private persons was a breach of these persons’ privacy – a charge Dr Sant rejected, claiming that by affixing his seal to such details, Dr Abela was making these documents public.

It all started rather innocuously with Opposition Whip Joe Mizzi asking where Urban Development and Roads Minister Jesmond Mugliett was to answer some supplementary questions.

Dr Abela, who was replying for Mr Mugliett, said that as far as he knew, Mr Mugliett was in Malta. Mr Mizzi said he wanted to ask Mr Mugliett more questions about ADT since more serious issues there are coming to light.

The minister had previously admitted that the manager responsible for driving tests had been eased of his responsibilities some weeks ago. Replying to more questions made by Mr Mizzi, Dr Abela said he will pass on these questions to Mr Mugliett.

Dr Sant here asked Dr Abela if he does not think that using his seal of office in letters written on his OPM/ Parliamentary Secretary letterheads did not constitute a conflict of interest for him.

Dr Abela replied that as anybody who has been in politics could tell Dr Sant, there is no conflict of interest in this. He has signed hundreds of similar letters and he has always used his parliamentary secretary letterhead to defend not just his constituents but anybody who approaches him.

Over the past hours he has met a person with a tax problem, another with an issue regarding the Joint Office, etc. While doctors and lecturers are allowed to retain their profession when holding a political office, notaries are banned from doing so and he has declared, in a document deposited at Court in 2003 when he became parliamentary secretary, that he no longer practises as a notary.

Dr Abela, who added he signs as Parliamentary Secretary to differentiate himself from MLP’s Toni Abela, here went on the offensive and claimed that all MPs should respect the privacy of the people who went to speak to them.

Dr Sant, rising on a Point of Order, said that when he declared he was writing as Parliamentary Secretary, Dr Abela had rendered such documents public ones. It is simply not true that he (Dr Sant) had uncovered people’s private matters: on the contrary he had been a whistleblower.

Dr Abela countered that the first document published by Dr Sant included the file name and gave details about a property. The second document was not written on a government letterhead and included signatures of people. These details should have been protected by the Data Protection Act. Dr Sant had no right to publish such documents.

Dr Abela wanted to continue, but the Speaker stopped him since the time for questions had run out.

However, Dr Sant, on another point of order, claimed that as all the documents he had revealed carried the Parliamentary Secretary’s seal of office, they were all public documents.