Opposition Leader Joseph Muscat yesterday said Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi should explain the “systematic espionage” the Nationalist Party is carrying out on private citizens who refer to government departments and cabinet members.
Speaking at the annual general meeting of the Labour Gozo district committee, Dr Muscat had asked Dr Gonzi to confirm or deny the accusation; however, he kept the most absolute of silences on the issue. Dr Muscat said PN secretary general Paul Borg Olivier requested the confidential information with Dr Gonzi’s blessing.
“This is a scandalous affair that should not be brushed aside as if nothing happened,” said Dr Muscat, adding that more details on the story were to be expected in the future. He also linked the story with the identity theft that took place at the government’s IT arm MITTS, on which Dr Muscat said the MLP will insist that investigations be carried out.
The MLP leader accused Infrastructure, Transport and Communications Minister Austin Gatt of twisting facts.
The minister, said Dr Muscat, said the MLP was not right in saying that the new utility tariffs regime was the equivalent of a surcharge of 194 per cent and insisted it was equal to 135 per cent. Should Dr Gatt be given the benefit of the doubt, said Dr Muscat, he had promised to lower the surcharge to 95 per cent when the price of fossil fuels decreased. Therefore, said the Opposition Leader, the minister should have kept the surcharge at 95 per cent in the first place.
The Labour leader said his party was responsible and published a detailed account of its calculations which showed that given the current price of fossil fuel the surcharge at the end of October should have stood at 61 per cent.
Dr Muscat said Minister Gatt had said that Enemalta’s fuel bill stood at e223million, while he forgot that he had said that the corporation needed to recuperate e305million.
The Opposition Leader added that the government said its tariffs were based on the price of fossil fuels for the period July to September. Dr Muscat recalled that Minister Gatt gave a presentation to the Malta Council of Economic and Social Development that tariffs were calculated on the average price of fuel during October. This, said Dr Muscat, proves that Dr Gatt lied.
Dr Muscat said facts showed that the government imposed the new tariffs to compensate for its inefficiencies throughout its 20 years in government rather than to offset the rise in price of fuel. The government’s aim was to declare a deficit of e200million to the EU, he insisted.
British workers, he said, paid six per cent of their average hourly wage to pay for a litre of petrol, while Maltese workers paid 14 per cent.
Referring EU statistics, he said that the average energy index throughout the block decreased from 15 to 12 per cent while the Maltese average index increased from 18 to 24 per cent; during a period in which the surcharge stood at 95 per cent and not at the current rates, said Dr Muscat.
The Opposition Leader accused the Nationalist-led government of being isolated and attacking all those who did not see eye to eye with it. He expressed solidarity with Wenzu Mintoff, against whose personal life “a ferocious” attack was carried out. He reminded his listeners how he instructed the party media not to report criminal proceedings against a prominent Gozitan’s relatives, while the PN media reported the arraignment of a relative of the Cospicua mayor.
Dr Muscat also accused the government of attacking economist Edward Scicluna after he challenged the figures and reasoning of the budget. Dr Muscat urged Prof. Scicluna to carry on voicing his opinion in a free way.
Dr Muscat said Gozo was not a district but a very important region and this fact will be reflected in the MLP’s statutory changes. He criticised the government for creating job opportunities on the island at a mediocre level.
The Labour leader asked the government to reimburse the Maltese who had paid VAT on their car registration tax from 2004 onwards as “that is stolen money”. He promised that the MLP would do what it takes, locally and abroad to see that the consumer is paid his dues.
He also criticised the government for overhauling its plans and build an oncology centre at Mater Dei, which had remained a building site for 14 years. Dr Muscat also referred to the halting of the Pharmacist of Your Choice scheme, during the year in which the scheme should have been extended throughout the country.
Dr Muscat expressed his and his party’s unconditional agreement with Minister John Dalli’s statement that the international situation should not be used as a pretext to diminish workers’ conditions.
Although the MLP has just lost an election, said Dr Muscat, it has published a number of proposals in different areas which the government should make use of.