PN Deputy Leader Beppe Fenech Adami said today that the Prime Minister should order Minister within the Office of the Prime Minister Konrad Mizzi and OPM Chief of Staff Keith Schembri to appear before the PANA committee MEPs who will be visiting Malta next week.

Dr Fenech Adami was asked by the press whether he would be submitting himself to a tax audit. The PN Deputy Leader responded that to his knowledge, only he and Finance Minister Edward Scicluna have accepted to meet with the PANA Committee MEPs who will come to Malta. He asked whether Nexia BT, Minister Konrad Mizzi and OPM Chief of Staff Keith Schembri will go before the Panama committee next Monday. Dr Fenech Adami said that he responded to the request to attend sent by the Pana committee soon after receiving it.

The PN Deputy Leader was holding a press conference on the court's decision this morning, regarding the libel case he filed and won over the ONE news story regarding his Gharghur house, and said that this judgement shows how the Labour Party is using false stories to try and divert attention.

Dr Fenech Adami had sued the PL news station over a report claiming that abusive construction works were carried out at his Gharghur home. The PL and its media ran the story over and over for several weeks, claiming this was one of the PN's biggest scandals. The court noted that One News editor Aleander Balzan, who had said he looked forward to present evidence in court and claims the PN was trying to muzzle the reports, never showed up in court to substantiate the claims.

This particular case, he said, came about soon after the Panama Papers scandal was revealed, where Minister with no portfolio Konrad Mizzi and OPM Chief of Staff Keith Schembri were found to have companies in the secretive jurisdiction of Panama.

"The judgement shows that when the party (PL) has its back against the wall, it fabricates stories using its own media to bring these stories to life, even when the party now that the story is false. They use it to try and divert attention."

Dr Fenech Adami noted that the Prime Minister had defended Keith Schembri and Konrad Mizzi, and said that he himself had spoken out about the Panama scandal many times.

"The Labout Party had invented other stories as well, like that against Ann Fenech, and the other PN Deputy Leader Mario de Marco, to try and reduce the credibility of the party."

He said that the court noted that the story in question was not substantiated, and reminded everyone of how journalists from the PL media had "for days come behind my door and even flew a drone over my house. When I filed for libel, they didn't even bring any evidence forward. The PL media was notified with the case, and their legal representative would turn up."

"I have no doubt that the PL will continue to fabricate stories in an attempt to break us."

He said that the big issues which worry the public relate to corruption, and again asked "who owns Egrant."

De Fenech Adami mentioned that Economy Minister Chris Cardona was one of the politicians at the forefront, attacking him over the issue. He reiterated that this is the minister who filed for several garnishee orders against Daphne Caruana Galizia.

Asked whether the two letters which were published by One news, one which allegedly showed that the rules and regulations did not allow the building up of his house, and the second which allegedly allowed him to do go ahead with his application, and whether this raises suspicion, he said no.

"Those matters were thrown out by the court this morning. He said that there are many houses in his area which have three storeys. "The allegation made by the PL was that I was given preference to build three floors for my house. I invite everyone to go around Gharghur and count the number of buildings which have more storeys than what I have. It is absolutely not true that I was given some form of preferential treatment."

Turning to the situation surrounding PN MP Toni Bezzina, where a  story which appeared in the Kulhadd newspaper, read that MP Bezzina applied to build a villa which includes a swimming pool for him and his family at the Rabat site which is on ODZ land. 

He said he did not see the details of the application, but reiterated that MP Bezzina said that his application was to rehabilitate certain buildings in a field. "Toni Bezzina understood that the PL was preparing, yet again, a strategy to divert attention from the big issues occurring around us. He recently said that he will withdraw the application not to allow the PL to make a story in order to divert attention."

"Toni Bezzina said the application was filed according to current policies that permit certain works even on ODZ land." He stressed that he is not an architect.

Asked whether, in his opinion, Toni Bezzina did nothing wrong in applying for a permit to build on ODZ land, he said that the PN MP made a statement saying that he applied to existing policies, while also stressing that he (Fenech Adami) is not an expert on such policies. 

He again stressed that Toni Bezzina will withdraw the application to not allow government to divert attention.