Opposition Leader Simon Busuttil said that should the Nationalist Party (PN) win the next election, he would remove the Police Commissioner on his first day for failing to do his duties in the wake of serious allegations against the Prime Minister and his closest men.
He quipped, to loud applause, that the current Police Commissioner would rather eat rabbit than investigate serious claims.
"For those who say an election is not won on the fight against corruption, I say that corruption is affecting everything and is hurting everyone. This is the 3 June decision.
He also said that he would launch an independent and professional investigation, where it would not be up to him to comment, judge or condemn anybody, but he would truly allow Malta's institutions to do their job.
Dr Busuttil was speaking at a political event in Naxxar, with a number of youths and young PN candidates strategically placed behind the leader. PN events have in recent years been known to be frequented by older age cohorts, which were present on the fringe seats at this evening's events.
He slammed the Prime Minister's infrastructural proposals by saying that he has not proposed anything new, but he is speaking about projects that should have been started in this current legislature or are in their very early stages.
The proposal where public officials are appointed through a 2/3 majority in Parliament was highlighted in the light of serious media reports about institutional shortcomings and failure to take action against rampant corruption.
Deputy leader of the PD Anthony Buttigieg, who was given the floor at his first public event, said that Dr Busuttil's proposal on appointing public officials through a 2/3 majority in Parliament stems from the very reason why PD members chose to form the party.
He said that good governance was the catalyst which launched PD, adding that it chose to embark in a coalition with the PN because this is was needs to be done for the interest of the country.
"The proposals mentioned by Dr Busuttil we support, consulted on and agreed upon prior to their announcement," he said.
Mr Buttigieg said this is not a case of a small party being subsumed by a large party, but a relationship of consultations and open dialogue.
He stressed that PD Leader Marlene Faruggia does nothing without consulting the whole team, fending off PL criticism that Dr Farrugia rides roughshod over her own party as well as over Dr Busuttil.
Dr Busuttil stressed that he is not just in Naxxar as the leader of the Opposition, but as a candidate on the 12th district, including Naxxar, St Paul's Bay and Mellieha.
"This is completely unacceptable, how can we stand for this? It creates a dark and ominous shadow on not just Dr Muscat, Keith Schembri and Konrad Mizzi, but also on Malta and the people who have worked so hard to propel Malta's financial services sector".
Referring to the decision to by Magistrate Aaron Bugeja to bring the allegations about Keith Schembri who is reported to have received kickbacks through the controversial citizenship by investment scheme, he said that Magistrate Bugeja found enough evidence to have the allegations taken to another magistrate for a criminal investigation.
This is hotly disputed by the Labour Party however who say that the allegations were taken to another magistrate in order to ascertain whether there is enough evidence to launch a criminal investigation, pointing out that in the court decree there is no mention of a criminal investigation.
This is countered by the argument that had Magistrate Bugeja found absolutely no scope for further investigation, he would have dropped the allegations and not issued a decree for the report to be investigated by another magistrate.
"I appeal for people to stop believing Dr Muscat, he has been lying to us too long. For the Maltese population having public officials under criminal investigation is a very serious affair."
He expressed solidarity with PD leader Marlene Farrugia, where it was reported that she had received death threats via social media. Dr Busuttil condemned this behaviour, adding that the coalition between the Partit Demokratiku is irrelevant, because nobody should be threatened in such a way.
The insults levelled against the Prime Minister's children are "completely unacceptable" and not "the style of politics the PN advocates. "I condemn this in full".
Photo and Video by Paul Jones