Labour Party president Ramona Attard on Thursday chose not to reply to questions on action the party will take against MP Rosianne Cutajar over her alleged trading in influence.

Whatsapp chats that were published earlier this week show Cutajar’s intimate relationship with the man accused of murdering journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.

Attard was taking questions from the media at a press conference organised by the Labour Party.

The chats were published by Mark Camilleri, the former National Book Council chairman and writer, who is fighting a defamation case filed by Cutajar over the contents of his book ‘A Rentseeker’s Paradise’, in which she is claiming allegations about her were libellous.

Camilleri replied by publishing hundreds of WhatsApp chats between Cutajar and Fenech, showing a high level of intimacy between the MP and the business magnate, as well as suggestions that Cutajar could have traded her influence as MP for cash and gifts from the businessman.

Attard only condemned the publication of the chats, which form part of criminal evidence against Fenech, and repeated the mantra set by prime minister Robert Abela who denounced what he said was a ‘misogynistic’ backlash on the intimate chats.

Attard was asked about what action the PL would take on the MP, but the Labour president would not comment. “This is a socialist government that has improved people’s lives, to the contrary of what the Nationalist Party did in its time in power... the PN taxed minimum wage,” the Labour president said.