Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi yesterday denied the allegation made by the Labour Party leader that he had been informed about Dr Gordon Cordina’s resignation three days before it was officially announced.

In a strong-worded ministerial statement in parliament yesterday, Dr Gonzi said the letter of resignation was presented to the chairman of the Malta Statistics Authority, Reno Camilleri, as stipulated by law.

“The allegation made by Dr Sant is an insult to the people working at the National Statistics Office, the members of the authority, including its chairman,” Dr Gonzi said.

The Prime Minister insisted time and again that he did not mind the opposition asking questions, however he would not tolerate direct and personal attacks, especially against an individual who is respected for his competence and who did a good job at the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development (MCESD) before being appointed director general of the NSO.

In his statement, Dr Gonzi made it clear that he did not know about the resignation before it was announced by the authority, “which called an urgent meeting on Friday to discuss Dr Cordina’s letter and, sadly, accept his resignation”.

The Prime Minister said that Dr Cordina had made it very clear in his letter why he was resigning: “He resigned because of repeated personal attacks against him to an extent that he could no longer do his job”.

Dr Gonzi said that the management of the NSO also made it very clear in a statement that it had faith in all the director generals who led the NSO, including Dr Cordina.

“They added two important points,” Dr Gonzi said, “first that the NSO uses methodologies and practices required in this science, but more importantly that at no time were they put under pressure, internal or external, to manipulate the figures.”

The Prime Minister called on the Labour Party to heed what the management of the NSO had said: “They are categorically denying the insinuations being made in the anonymous reports presented by the Labour Party.”

Dr Gonzi said the statistics were as correct as humanely possible and if the Labour Party had any objections it had the structures to investigate the matter, referring to the Public Accounts Committee, “which is chaired by Dr Charles Mangion”.

The Labour Party’s deputy leader Charles Mangion asked the Prime Minister to confirm whether or not he knew that the resignation letter had already been sent and he challenged Dr Gonzi to find somewhere in the technical report any words or statements that could be taken as a personal attack against Dr Cordina.

“At no point did I or Dr Sant make any personal attacks against Dr Cordina. All we did was ask questions to justify the changes made to the statistics,” Dr Mangion said.

He also asked if the NSO’s management statement that “errors could be made” meant that the revisions were in actual fact incorrect.

Replying to Dr Mangion’s questions, the Prime Minister once again insisted that he did not receive the letter of resignation and that what Dr Sant said last Sunday was not true.

Dr Gonzi asked whether the opposition was trying to undermine important national institutions and he made it very clear that it was not the technical reports that led to Dr Cordina’s resignation but the personal attacks against him.

He said that Dr Mangion knew very well that statistics change over time and need to be revised but “you are scaring people from revising the figures”.

The Prime Minister said the facts were clear: the statistics were correct and showed that what Labour had been saying for the past three years was wrong.

“This is what is bothering you. You have received an envelope that you do not like, so you shot the messenger.

“However, what is in that envelope does not change,” Dr Gonzi said.

He also shot down the allegation that the NSO knew that a mistake had been made. “Are you saying that the revisions were manipulated and this was done without everybody at the NSO knowing?” he asked.

Labour MP Carmelo Abela asked whether the revisions made reflected negatively on Dr Cordina’s predecessors. He said it was not true that Labour MP Leo Brincat had launched a personal attack in his article but simply asked questions on facts that were known.

Replying, the Prime Minister said it was typical of Labour to quote what suited the party, adding that Mr Brincat had referred to the fact that Dr Cordina had spoken in favour of EU membership in 2003 and wrote that in light of this fact he could not be trusted. Dr Gonzi said that what was said outside parliament about Dr Cordina was just as serious.

Nationalist MP Mario Galea asked whether Labour’s attacks were an attempt to undermine Malta’s entry into the eurozone, whether the fact that those who spoke in favour of membership were now being targeted by Labour and, finally, if these hysterical attacks cast doubts on the Labour Party’s democratic credentials.

Replying, the Prime Minister said he was suspicious that Labour was against euro adoption and he called on Labour to work with the government to achieve eurozone membership.

Dr Gonzi, in part replying to Carmelo Abela, said it was true the PN had criticised the auditor general and the ombudsman but had not attacked them personally.

The Prime Minister said the Labour Party policy was clear: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.

However, concluding, Dr Gonzi called on the Labour Party to use the proper institutions and means to criticise and question the figures but to leave out the personal attacks, “attacks that resulted in the loss of someone of importance to the country”.