Government Whip Andy Ellul said that the PN’s behaviour in yesterday’s Parliament impromptu discussion on the third part of the NAO’s report on the hospitals’ concession, proved that the Opposition has two leaders, Leader Bernard Grech and Adrian Delia.

In a press conference held on Tuesday, Ellul and Justice Minister Jonathan Attard reacted to yesterday’s events in Parliament, where Prime Minister Robert Abela discussed the report, despite the PN having asked for it to be discussed today so that the 450-page report could be discussed in detail.

Grech then spoke during a press conference outside the plenary, while Abela said that the report proved that what he had been saying was true, and that himself, Chris Fearne and Clyde Caruana had not been involved in the concession.

Ellul said that yesterday’s events proved clear that the Opposition has two leaders, as after Grech left the plenary, his colleagues Robert Cutajar and Adrian Delia started debating the NAO report in response to government.

Ellul continued to say that Cutajar is more inclined to follow Delia. He then said that Grech came back into parliament to debate the same topic he refused to debate with the Prime Minister.

“A confused Opposition, a deceitful one,” Ellul said, saying that these events have proved a lack of seriousness, and government will not allow Grech to lower political standards in the country, as it continued to focus on implementing the 1,000 proposals in the government programme.

Ellul continued that he could not understand why the Opposition did not want to discuss the audit report, especially since it has been speaking about the matter daily, claiming that they acted like they knew the facts, when they in fact didn’t.

Attard described the PN as hysterical and exaggerative in what it does, while saying that the NAO report gave credibility to the Prime Minister and the current government.

He continued that the report discredited the PN in all its claims, claiming that the Opposition is ignoring the facts.

Attard said that the claim the PN made about government failing to react after the concession was annulled, claims about the fraud being larger than it is, and that government had committed fraud, were all false.

He said that government has always been clear about the contractual obligations Steward had to fulfil, and when there was an arbitration, procedures were followed to not disrupt the healthcare system, as failing to follow the rules of the procedures could have led to serious consequences.

“Government took the hospitals under its wing and stopped paying Steward,” he said.

He accused the PN of not knowing its own stand, which is why the three hospitals have fallen under government’s remit to be consistent. Attard appealed to the PN to be more responsible in their remarks, which were not true.

Attard said that government acts for national interest in its strategies, while the PN fails to propose solutions and “is not capable of debating with government.”

PN responds

The PN responded by saying that Abela is still deceiving people because the government is choosing not to mention how Abela was former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat's legal adviser. It added that the government is also not mentioning that Abela's government has given Steward €280 million.