The Labour government didn't have a single contract that doesn't have a serious smell of corruption, Opposition Leader Bernard Grech said on Sunday.

He was being interviewed on PN media. Grech made this comment when he was asked about the Marsa project scandal. It was recently announced that the European Union's anti-fraud office is investigating the Marsa junction project after data found on Yorgen Fenech's mobile phone indicated the possibility of corruption.

The Times of Malta had reported that data on the phone revealed that Fenech had a background role as a middleman in the project and that he had been promised €2 million in success fees - half of which would pass through a secret company linked to the infamous 17 Black.

Grech said that over the years, reports by the National Audit Office, public inquiries and other actions showed that there are major projects that are tainted with corruption. "God forbid we didn't have the independent media that continues to write and uncover such things," he said.

Abela gives impression that there was corruption in past and that now all is ok, Grech said, arguing that this is not the case.

He said that the government does not shy away from dipping its fingers into cotracts.

PN MP Karol Aquilina, he said, asked the Permanent Commission Against Corruption to investigate corruption claims linked to the Marsa flyover project.  He also said that the PN MPs who sit on the Public Accounts Committee have also asked the National Audit Office to investigate the way the contract was issued. "Through these two methods, we felt we would achieve a serious investigation (into this issue)," Grech said.

He was also asked about the €1 million in damages awarded to private individuals in a court case. The owners of a Birżebbuġa property housing the PL club were awarded almost €1 million in damages for having been denied full enjoyment of the property after being 'forced' into agreeing to the lease.

"This is a clear scandal. We have not heard Robert Abela, as PL Leader, provide peace of mind that they will not steal another million euros," Grech said.

He said that the government had taken a property from private individuals and gave it to the Labour Party to use as a party club. The property, he said, is a corner seafront property. He said that the original owners have long been struggling because of this.

"Now, the owners, as they have a right to enjoy their property, took government to court and won the case. It was against their rights that the property was taken. The court ordered the owners to be paid €1 million." He said that the court had to order the government to pay that amount which the original owners had a right to. But, he said, the PL isn't the ones going to be paying it, but rather the taxpayers.

"So public funds are going to be used to pay individuals who have a right to that compensation, as they had a right to that property, which the PL benefitted from.  The people will be paying €1 million for something that the Labour Party was benefitting from." He noted that Prime Minister Robert Abela hasn't said that the Labour Party will pay it. "This is the unfair advantage Abela has, who has no issue using public funds."

He made an appeal for people to donate to the Nationalist Party, which was fundraising on Sunday.

He spoke about the recent protest organised by the party. He said thousands answered the PN's call. "We felt the time had come to call a national protest."

He said that people answered the call, sending a message that they cannot continue to accept the PL's propaganda, "saying that it cannot continue doing whatever it wants."

He said that the government had to admit on that they created the Air Malta problems as they didn't have a vision. "They threw out the plan we had when we were in government, and they thought only of partisan interests, and brought the airline to its knees."

"Today, they cannot continue blaming former Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi or the PN in opposition, or the pandemic, or the war."

"At end of the day, we have a government with no vision, a government that created no new economic pillars. Today, they cannot blame anyone else."