The government’s proposal to change the law to permit MPs to take up positions in authorities and boards is a way for Prime Minister Joseph Muscat to give a second income to Labour parliamentarians, Nationalist Party leader Simon Busuttil said this morning.

MPs who will be appointed on these entities will be getting paid for their position over and above the parliamentary honoraria they are receiving as MPs, Dr Busuttil said.

In the previous legislature, the Labour Party had led public outcry against the decision taken by the then Nationalist government on parliamentary honoraria, a decision with which Dr Busuttil said he was in disagreement. But the Labour government now is doing worse than this by changing the law to allow MPs to sit on boards. What the PL government is effectively doing is inventing a second income to these MPs, Dr Busuttil said.

Speaking during a radio interview, Dr Busuttil said that many decisions that have been taken by the Labour government indicate a downward spiral when it comes to ethical standards. He mentioned, as an example, the fact that parliamentary secretary Franco Mercieca was allowed to continue working privately when he was supposed to be on government duty.

Mr Mercieca made up to €3,600 in one morning, Dr Busuttil said, urging the government to reveal how much money Mr Mercieca made from his private practice since he was appointed parliamentary secretary.

Dr Busuttil also said that it was highly unethical that a Labour candidate was allowed to contest the casual elections for a place in the European Parliament while she is facing criminal procedures.

It is also unethical, he said, and “verging on corrupt practice” to promise a prison amnesty if the PL is elected. Dr Busuttil said the PN had evidence that this had happened, but stopped short of saying who the Labour candidates involved are. We have nothing against prisoners, Dr Busuttil said, but the way votes were bought. There were also people who were promised jobs or a promotion, he insisted.

Dr Busuttil also criticised the appointment of a blacklisted Chinese company to carry out a feasibility study on the building of a bridge between Malta and Gozo. “It’s like anything goes,” he said.

What is also shocking is that a clause in the contract lays down that this company should not expect to be given preference over others if the bridge is eventually built. What should have instead been included in the contract is that this company would be excluded from the project should it be considered feasible, Dr Busuttil argued.

He said that the government seems to be politically motivated against the operators of the San Frangisk animal hospital at Ta’ Qali. The operators won a public tender for the job, he said, and they should not be harassed by the government for the work they are carrying out. It does not make sense that this is happening, he said, and this led to suspicions that there are political motivations behind the whole story.

The PN leader said that the way former Nationalist MP and former European Commissioner John Dalli was given a job by the government a day after the police commissioner had said that there was not enough evidence to charge him over allegations that led to his resignation led him to believe that the government had reached an agreement with Mr Dalli before the police commissioner’s decision was made public.

Dr Busuttil said the first 100 days following the election were the start of a period of transformation for the PN as well. The party has undergone a change of leadership with the focus now being on a team of leaders.

We wanted a wide leadership, he said. It is also a message that a team is running the Nationalist Party, and this means more enthusiasm and unity, factors which were missing for many years and which led the party to an election defeat.

One of the party’s priorities is to address its dire financial position, and a commission has been set up to come up with recommendations on how the party could get back on its feet in financial terms. The recommendations are to be presented by the end of the month, Dr Busuttil said.