Opposition Leader Alfred Sant raised a breach of privilege complaint yesterday against Urban Development and Roads Minister Jesmond Mugliett and called on the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr Anton Tabone, to give a ruling on the matter.

The complaint was raised after Dr Sant and Justice and Home Affairs Minister Tonio Borg had been involved in a sometimes heated exchange – which lasted nearly one hour – on procedures to be followed in the House.

Referring to the letter sent by Dr Sant to the Speaker of the House (see report on page 1), Dr Sant said that a motion of breach of privilege had to be raised at the earliest opportunity, which, he said, was yesterday’s sitting.

Dr Borg insisted that, before reading out the letter to the House, the Opposition leader should first file a motion in parliament.

In this instance, the Speaker said that he is giving the letter the attention it deserves and will consult as necessary.

Dr Sant said there are fundamental issues at stake and a method of procedure had to be agreed upon.

Dr Borg said that, at this stage, the Speaker is acting in a quasi-judicial role. However, Dr Sant said that the Speaker’s role is to regulate the way in which Parliament proceeds and this role is not judicial in nature.

Dr Borg said that the Speaker first had to see whether there was prima facie evidence of a breach of privilege.

Dr Sant said that the deputy prime minister is “comparing like with unlike”. There are two positions, he said – the position that the Speaker will take and the position of the members of parliament.

At this point, Dr Louis Galea intervened and said that the Speaker has a right to secrecy and any pre-judging without the right of audi alteram partem should be avoided.

Dr Sant persisted in his attempt to obtain a ruling on whether he could read the letter out to the House or not.

Dr Borg said that he was not objecting to the letter being read out in parliament, but he was saying that such a letter could only be read in the context of a breach of privilege.

Dr Sant than asked who was going to raise the question of a breach of privilege, the Speaker of the House or himself. Mr Tabone said that he was treating the letter as correspondence and it was for this reason that he was not giving a ruling on the alleged breach of privilege.

Dr Borg insisted that the parliamentary session was in motion stage and the reading out of the letter was out of context. The procedures of the House of Representatives have to be respected, he said.

Dr Sant said that he is bringing up the breach of privilege in the context of all the standing orders.

Dr Borg insisted that, according to the rules of breach of privilege and particularly the House of Representatives (Privileges and Powers) Ordinance, a breach of privilege has to be specified and Dr Sant had to refer to the law under which such a breach of privilege exists.

He said Mr Mugliett had denied that he had given any orders to the ADT board that any of its employees should not be sacked. He said that the fact that the Malta Transport Authority chairman had said that the board had not been pressured in any way corroborated what the Roads Minister was saying.

As to the fact that Mr Mugliett had said that the decision had been reached following collective discussions, the Opposition Leader said that the collective element is missing and this is thus a case of breach of privilege.

The Speaker said he will give a ruling at the appropriate time.