Labour MPs are finding out that having Robert Abela as their leader instead of Joseph Mucsat has not led them away from the party’s wrongdoing, Nationalist Party leader Bernard Grech said Saturday.

They thought they could just change captains and continue to act with impunity, going as far as being arrogant because of their 40,000 vote win, he said in an interview on the party radio station.

Grech was speaking a day after the resignation of Deputy Prime Minister Chris Fearne resigned, who is among people who have been charged with criminal offences following the conclusion of a magisterial inquiry into the three hospitals’ deal. Former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, Central Bank governor Edward Scicluna and former Minister Konrad Mizzi will also be charged.

Grech said that it was thanks to the Nationalist Party the hospitals were returned to the people “Now we are working to get back the money they took.” The deal was rescinded by a court ruling in a case instituted by former party leader Adrian Delia.

Abela’s government has done nothing to bring back that money, Grech said on Saturday.

“He could have filed a case to get our money back. We pushed him to do so, but he didn’t. So then we pushed the State Advocate to do it. He told us he would only do so if the prime minister asked him to. So then we filed the case ourselves, instead,” Grech said. “We didn’t need the prime minister to do so.”

“People voted for Labour because they wanted a better Malta. Now they are changing their minds,” he said, urging the public to vote for PN candidates on 8 June.

He said the PN is building a coalition with everyone except Robert Abela: social partners, students, NGOs, everyday citizens are joining us to take the country back.

The Labour government attacks journalists and the judiciary, Grech said, wondering what they will do if they win again.