PN MP Jason Azzopardi has questioned whether PL MP Robert Abela had access to certain phone records which he should not have had access to.

Azzopardi was delivering the Parliamentary adjournment speech, and highlighted that the report published after MEPs David Casa, Ana Gomes and Sven Giegold visited Malta - all members of the EP ad hoc Mission on the Rule of Law in Malta - indicates that Abela possibly had access to records which he should not be able to see.

Azzopardi, in Parliament, said that this MEP report which was been circulated to all the persons who met the MEPs "and to date has not been corrected by anyone in Malta, reads that a person, a government MP had illegal access to, or was given classified information illegally, and is aware of what certain phone intercepts contain."

He said that "this is of unprecedented gravity."  He quoted from the report, saying: "PL (MP Robert Abela) clarified that there was never any mention of the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia in the phone interactions".

He said that he spoke with the MEPs concerned to see whether these words represent what was actually said, and that they confirmed to the positive.

Azzopardi stressed that in Malta and according to Law:-phone intercepts of third parties can only be acquired by the Malta Security Services (MSS) and this, only after a warrant issued according to law.

He said that if anyone else is in, or comes in, possession of, or has access to, such phone intercepts, it is a very serious situation.

This statement by Abela he said, can only mean one of two things: either, that MP Robert Abela has had access to, or was given information which is classified in an illegal manner and which is not available to the Inquiring Magistrate; or that he was bluffing, and thus lying to the three MEPs.

He said that both cases are serious, and said that it is of serious concern that an MP shows that he had access to secret classified information, or gives the impression that he had such access.

The buck stops with the Prime Minister, Azzopardi said, asking whether the Prime Minister granted access to phone intercepts by the MSS in a criminal investigation to his MPs, if yes why, and how many times had he done so.

If not, he asked the Prime Minister to say whether it was acceptable for his MPs to go around saying such things if they weren't true.