The PN on Wednesday said that comments made by Prime Minister Robert Abela regarding the court proceedings against ex-Deputy Leader Chris Fearne amount to unacceptable pressure on the Magistrate hearing the case.
On Wednesday, Abela told journalists that “it’s one of the most probable possibilities,” that Fearne might still get the nod to become Malta’s European Commissioner if the court hearing his Vitals case finds there not enough prima facie evidence to indict him.
PN MP Karol Aquilina said that Abela is showing that he has learned nothing from the recent electoral defeat he has just faced, and he is again trying to interfere with the course of justice.
“Instead of fully supporting the prosecutors who are doing their job on behalf of Malta as is their duty, Abela is pressuring the Magistrate by putting on him the burden of the decision regarding Malta's nomination for European Commissioner,” he said.
Aquilina said that Abela should “stop playing this game with our judicial system and stop toying with positions that are of great importance to our country's reputation.”
He said that after four and a half years in office, Abela still has not started behaving like a Prime Minister and has not begun prioritizing the interests of Maltese and Gozitan citizens over his partisan interests.
“Abela knows that his Deputy Leader has already been found guilty, along with the entire cabinet of his predecessor, of creating an environment of impunity in which journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia could be murdered,” Aquilina said.
He said that Abela knows that whatever the Magistrate decides “in the case of the largest fraud in the country's history,” it will not change the fact that Fearne has always supported, through his words and actions, the pigging out and obscenities committed by the Labour Government from 2013 to the present.
“Therefore, Abela should not shirk the difficult decisions that he is obliged to take as Prime Minister regarding the judiciary. He should allow the judiciary to work calmly to reach the truth and justice, not according to what he thinks suits him and the Labour Party,” Aquilina said.
Aquilina said that the Nationalist Party insisted that Abela should immediately retract what he said and apologize to the Judges and Magistrates of the country for the damage he has caused them, mentioning “the campaign orchestrated with Joseph Muscat in recent months.”
He said that the Nationalist Party also insists that Abela takes the political decision he must take regarding the nomination for European Commissioner.
“The Nationalist Party insists that this decision should not be made according to the partisan interests of Abela and the Labour Party, but in the best interests of our country,” Aquilina said.
He said that the PN appealed to Abela to start behaving like a Prime Minister and to make decisions that do not further tarnish the country's name.