Chairman of the Malta Council for Science and Technology (MCST) and former PN MP Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando today held a staff event on his property in Mistra, the venue which landed him in trouble with his former party and then Labour leader Alfred Sant back in 2008.
Sources informed this newsroom last night that staff members were asked to report at Mistra the following day.
The event turned out to be a “team building exercise” which Dr Pullicino Orlando organised for “free” on his Wednesday day of work at MCST.
Dr Pullicino Orlando, reportedly in other sections of the media, only visits his MCST office on Wednesdays, and can be contacted at his private dental clinic about MCST matters on other days.
Doffing his more formal office attire for a pair of blue swimming trunks, Dr Pullicino Orlando summoned his staff to his Mistra property for the exercise at 8am today.
On seeing us filming outside the venue, his partner and personal assistant Lara Boffa invited us to enter, which we did.
The invite was short-lived, as Dr Pullicino Orlando together with his bodyguard Stephen Ciangura immediately told us to leave the property.
The MCST chairman took the liberty of answering a few questions while escorting us off the property.
Speaking over the sound of Rihanna’s ‘We found love,’ Dr Pullicino Orlando said he was not charging the MCST for the use of his land and he was holding the event there “because it is my private property and I can do what I want.”
Asked if the event was being held on a Wednesday because that is the only day he actually reports for work at the MCST, Dr Pullicino said: “Good day.”
A few seconds later, Dr Pullicino Orlando together with his bodyguard came back outside and demanded to know whether our cameraman had filmed any footage inside.
Told that his partner and personal assistant Lara Boffa had actually invited us onto the property, Dr Pullicino Orlando accused us of lying.
JPO's Mistra property was the subject of great controversy before the 2008 election, at a time when Dr Pullicino Orlando was contesting on behalf of the Nationalist Party.
Plans for the development of a discotheque on the said land had dominated the election campaign in 2008, with then Labour leader Alfred Sant revealing a private contract on the use of the land for a discotheque in the last televised debate with then Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi.
Dr Pullicino Orlando, who had cried in public in one of the activities before the 2008 election claiming that he was the victim of a misleading campaign by Labour, was made chairman of the Malta Council for Science and Technology by Dr Gonzi, and retained the post under the present Labour government after he had shifted his political allegiance.