Labour Leader Alfred Sant said yesterday that it is about time that cases of corruption and abuse of power do not remain time-barred and can be dealt with in court.

Speaking on Super One Radio yesterday morning, Dr Sant said he agreed that the MLP should put forward a proposal to abolish time-barring for cases involving alleged corruption and alleged abuse of power.

He said measures must be taken to ensure that those people who are trusted with power remain accountable and responsible for their actions. He promised that a new Labour government will take the necessary measures, according to law, in order that those responsible of abuse are punished accordingly.

Referring to the Voice of the Mediterranean issue involving Ambassador Richard Muscat, Dr Sant said the Malta Labour Party will be following this case till the end. The Labour Leader said Mr Muscat should resign from his post of ambassador. On Saturday, Dr Sant had warned that if Mr Muscat did not resign on his own accord, the Labour government will ensure that he does.

Dr Sant also spoke about the government’s recent decision to appoint a board of inquiry to investigate the operations of the Auditor General. He said this was anti-constitutional because no one can control the Auditor General.

Dr Sant said the government was “arrogant and incompetent” and was being led by a bunch of people who are there to scratch each other’s back. Moreover, the government cannot even attain the targets it sets for itself, he said.

He said the Labour party is getting ready to take over the government and get Malta out of the dark alley in which it was led by the Nationalist government over the years.

The Labour Leader said the government did not react to the closure of Sea Malta and Menrad, resulting in a number of people losing their employment. He said this showed that the government does not care about what is going on and is completely detached from reality.

He said the Labour party was continuing its preparations for government with a series of plans and proposals which would then constitute the party’s electoral manifesto for the coming general election. He said the party was preparing its plans on the family, youths, the elderly and one on working conditions.

Dr Sant said the party was also working on a number of other plans which would contain the party’s vision on several issues including irregular immigration, security, justice, national heritage, information and communication technology and foreign policy. Whenever the next general election is called, the MLP will have its plans prepared to give the country a breath of fresh air, he said.

The Labour Leader also spoke about the extension of the development boundaries. He said that the government could not follow the MLP’s footsteps and allow its parliamentary group to vote as they wished because at least four of the PN MPs were against the proposed extension.

He said that if the government really wanted to provide for injustices suffered by people in 1988 – when the development boundaries were last revised – it could have easily done this through an independent tribunal which would have looked at each case separately.

Dr Sant also spoke about problems Malta is facing in the tourism sector. He said that the number of tourists are on the decrease while many hotels are either closing down or else are making their rooms – even the five-star hotels – available to young students who come to Malta to learn English.

Labour MPs Joe Brincat and Roderick Galdes also intervened during the radio programme that was presented by journalist Reuben Sciberras.