Opposition Leader Bernard Grech said that Prime Minister Robert Abela could have given malicious advice to former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, with aims to take his position as leader of the country.

Addressing a press conference in Valletta on Thursday, Grech said that upon asking this question to Abela during the final debate between the leaders yesterday, Abela neither answered the allegation, nor denied it.

Grech said that Abela could have been caught off-guard by the question, as it was not in the script prepared for him.

“If this turns out to be true, then Muscat would be a victim,” Grech said.

During the debate, Grech also accused Abela of destroying the economic surplus that Muscat left him. He said that when Abela came into power, Malta’s deficit returned, ending four years of surpluses for the country.

Grech said that this means that Abela did not lead the economy as well as those before him.

He said that it is easy to blame the pandemic for the country’s deficit, despite the Covid-19 pandemic resulting into lockdowns and government aid which caused a spike in deficit.

However, it is the PL’s failure for not creating new economic sectors which led to the continuous borrowing of money, which increased the country’s debt, Grech said, saying that neither Muscat nor Abela had created new economic sectors.