Opposition Leader Simon Busuttil told this newsroom there is 'absolutely no reason' to take action against Deputy Leader Beppe Fenech Adami, after it emerged that the latter represented the Gaffarena family in court.
Local newspaper It-Torċa today reported that Deputy Leader of the Nationalist Party Beppe Fenech Adami represented three members of the Gaffarena in court between 2003 and 2004.
Contacting this newsroom, Dr Busuttil said: "There is absolutely no reason to take action against Beppe because he did nothing wrong. Since when should I take action against an MP because he exercised his profession as legal counsel (in this case, several years ago, even before becoming MP)? The point at issue is completely different. It is not whether one met Gaffarena or was his lawyer that is the problem, but giving in to his insistence to sanction his illegally built petrol station. We said no, Labour said ok. If anything, this case brings out the stark difference between the two parties when dealing with such cases."
Last week, journalists asked the Deputy Leader about his ties to members of the Gaffarena family, to which he replied he only knows them by sight, and that he attended dinners where they were present, insisting that they did not go as friends.
In a telephone call on Radio 101 this morning, Dr Busuttil spoke of ‘corruption ties’ the goverment has with the Gaffarena family, but conveniently chose not to speak about his deputy leader’s connections with the same family.
Following the call, this newsroom sent the following questions to Dr Busuttil.
1. This morning you mentioned a number of scandals involving Gaffarena and the government. However you failed to mention the report that Beppe Fenech Adami represented the Gaffarena family in court. Why is this?
2. This week, Dr Fenech Adami was repeatedly asked whether he has ties with Gaffarena, to which he replied he does not. Will you be taking action against him?
The first reply by the Opposition Leader read as follows:
“Regardless of any meetings or contacts we had with Gaffarena before the election, we never gave in to any of his requests to give him something irregular. It is precisely because we had the courage to say no to Gaffarena that he crossed over to Labour. And because Joseph Muscat is unprincipled, he gave Gaffarena all that he wanted and more. Today, Muscat is acting as the sole defender of Gaffarena.”
Published excerpts from court documents indicate that Dr Fenech Adami acted as legal counsel to Marco, Christoper and Johann Gaffarena, in two seperate cases before the Rural Lease Control Board and one before the First Hall of the Civil Court.
David Gonzi, sone of former Prime minister Lawrence Gonzi, acted as legal counsel in one of the cases, after Dr Fenech Adami terminated his reprentation.