The leader of the Nationalist Party, Bernard Grech has called for the resignation or removal of Minister for National Heritage, Art and Local Government Owen Bonnici following scandals which have rocked the upper hierarchy of both the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra and, now, the Manoel Theatre.

In an interview Wednesday with NET FM, Grech said that it is clear that Owen Bonnici “messed up” and must resign or be removed by Prime Minister Robert Abela.

Last Saturday, Malta Philharmonic Orchestra CEO Sigmund Mifsud was charged with tampering with evidence after he allegedly instructed MPO employees to keep quiet about a sexual harassment scandal.

A senior official at the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra was placed under a restraining order, as well as given a suspended sentence, after admitting to having sexually harassed a young female orchestra musician over a span of more than three years.

In another development today, Manoel Theatre CEO Massimo Zammit has been suspended with immediate effect and was placed on half-salary after an external and autonomous entity was appointed to examine various allegations by the Manoel Theatre leadership board.

Grech said that Bonnici did not protect the victim, but instead chose to hide everything, control what the media once the case was leaked, and now is trying to pin it on others.

He said that if Bonnici does not resign then Abela should remove him. However, Grech pointed out that Abela does not have the authority to remove Bonnici because Bonnici probably knows what Abela is hiding from his declaration of assets.

He also accused Abela of not appointing a standards commissioner or ombudsman yet as he is preventing an investigation into his declaration of assets.

In Abela’s declaration of assets, he declared an unspecified amount of rental income and he wrote that this information was already declared in his tax forms, which are not made public.

As revealed by the Times of Malta earlier this year the rental income was coming from Russian passport applicants who had not verified that they were living in Malta.

“Abela does not want a standard commissioner or the ombudsman to investigate the declaration of assets,” Grech said.

Grech also brought up how during an interview with The Times of Malta, Abela had said that there is no corruption taking place under his watch.

Grech reminded the interviewer how Abela’s government is the same government that was there in 2013, but he is making it out to be like this government was established two years ago.

He said that it was useless having the whistle-blower act if it is never used.

He mentioned the Electrogas deal, the vitals and steward contract, and all the money that was wasted to put into people’s pockets.

He also criticised Abela for wasting a lot of money on adverts and propaganda to make the budget seem like it was a successful one.

“The government has spent thousands to convince people that this budget was a good one,” he said.

Overall he condemned the arrogant attitude of Abela and the Labour party for thinking that they can get away with anything.