Parliamentary Speaker Anglu Farrugia on Wednesday dismissed a breach of privilege complaint filed by ex-PN MP David Thake’s against tourism minister Clayton Bartolo, which was related to the former’s tax arrears.

Recent revelations have shown that Thake’s companies Vanilla Telecoms and MaltaShopper LTD owe around €270,000 and €550,000 in VAT arrears respectively. Thake stated that a big portion of the VAT owed through his companies was part of the Covid-19 VAT deferral scheme.

During a parliamentary sitting on Monday, Bartolo rebutted Thake’s claim, saying that the VAT arrears by his companies predate the pandemic period, meaning that the companies in question cannot apply for the Covid-19 VAT deferral scheme. This prompted Thake to file a complaint with Farrugia over breech of parliamentary privilege.

In a ruling handed down on Wednesday, the Speaker said the issue is not to be discussed or investigated any further since Thake’s complaint was not filed at the first opportunity, as stated by parliamentary rules.

As Farrugia explained through various examples from the past, the complaint should have been filed at the moment Bartolo made his comments, since that was the first opportunity to do so.

David Thake has suspended himself from the Nationalist Party parliamentary group. He has submitted himself to an investigation by the Standards Commissioner.