The Labour Party brought pressure to bear on Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi yesterday about the Mistra land scandal, arguing in a statement that, as more facts emerged about the scandal and personal involvement of Nationalist MP Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando, the Prime Minister’s duty to tell the whole truth about the matter became even more serious.
The MLP’s information office said that as had been done before the general election, today it was completely proven that Dr Pullicino Orlando had lied barefacedly when, on Saturday, 1 March he declared at a news conference that he did not know anything about the development of a discotheque on land he owns at Mistra, where no development could be allowed because of its environmental sensitivity, which is scheduled as a Natura 2000 site.
After the dentist’s declaration just days before the general election, the MLP added, documents had been published which showed unequivocally that Dr Pullicino Orlando had lied, because he knew exactly what was being proposed for his land at Mistra. But in spite of this, Lawrence Gonzi had, till the last moment of the electoral campaign, stuck his neck out for him.
Dr Gonzi had accused those making the charges against the dentist of wanting to throw mud, and without any compunction had allowed Dr Pullicino Orlando to contest the general election on behalf of the PN, which badly needed his votes. PN general secretary Joe Saliba, at the same time, had accompanied the dentist when he posed as a journalist and disrupted a Broadcasting Authority news conference which was going to be addressed by then Labour leader Alfred Sant.
The MLP added that after the general election more details emerged confirming that Dr Pullicino Orlando was, in fact, the main motivator of the discotheque on his land at Mistra. Reports in the media and public statements have shown that the dentist had personally brought and enormous amount of pressure to bear, and even held meetings, to ensure that the development permit for the discotheque would be issued without delay by the Malta Environment and Planning Authority.
In spite of all these facts, the dentist last Monday not only told a newspaper that he had not lied about the land at Mistra, but insisted that he had always told the PN all the facts concerning him, the MLP said.
This declaration laid a national duty on Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi, as PN leader, to declare unequivocally the whole truth about which facts he knew before the election, and on what grounds he had allowed Dr Pullicino Orlando to contest the election for the PN. The MLP said that in the public interest, and for the sake of transparency, the Prime Minister could not remain silent.
The Prime Minister was also duty bound to explain how the political responsibility was going to be carried for all the irregularities at the MEPA over the recent years. The MEPA auditor, referring to the Mistra scandal, had not only made it clear that the permit should never have been issued, but even added that in these circumstances, charges of corruption were inevitable and difficult to be disproved.
The MLP added that at the same time it was now also being alleged that the pressure being brought to bear by Dr Pullicino Orlando for the permit issue, also involved a senior official in the Ministry of George Pullicino, who was politically responsible for the MEPA.
How could Minister George Pullicino not have been aware of what was going on about the Mistra scandal, the MLP asked. Mr Pullicino, it added, also had the duty to explain what he knew and what he had done to prevent the Mistra permit from being issued. This held even more so because Dr Gonzi had again appointed Mr Pullicino to the cabinet.
The MLP said it was the Prime Minister’s duty to tell the nation the whole truth about the Mistra scandal. He could not continue putting the PN’s partisan interests above everything else, as he had done before the general election to win votes.