The Nationalist Party and Labour Party on Thursday traded statements accusing each other after two people were charged in court in related to money laundering, human trafficking, forgery, fraud and bribery offences.

In its statement, the PN noted that the inquiry into the scandal within the Identità agency - where several people started receiving mail addressed to individuals who never lived at the stated addresses - has led to a number of individuals being brought before the Court.

While calling for full respect for the judicial process, the PN highlighted the absolute silence from the Government on this case and the lack of political accountability from those who repeatedly denied and dismissed the allegations as untrue.

The Labour Government is currently engaged in a propaganda campaign aimed at trying to fix the problems it created itself, particularly concerning the large influx of foreign workers it imported from other countries without any proper plan, and the negative impact this is having on the quality of life of the Maltese population, the PN said.

This is apart from the fact that workers from third countries are also falling victim to abuse in Malta due to this lack of planning on the part of the Labour Government. 

Conversely, the news from the Court reveals the true picture: the total collapse within government agencies in this sector, the PN said.

Had it not been for the public exposing this identity card racket, had it not been for the inquiry initiated by lawyer Jason Azzopardi, and had it not been for the political pressure exerted by the PN, the Labour Government would have allowed this racket to continue in secrecy, the PN added.

It is precisely for these reasons, among others, that inquiries are troubling Prime Minister Robert Abela, who is doing everything possible to prevent citizens from requesting inquiries and has now even introduced a law in Parliament to deprive them of this right, the PN said.

The statement was signed by Darren Carabott, Shadow Minister for Internal Affairs, Security, and Reforms

In reply, the PL said after two people were arraigned in Court in an investigation which started after reports of Identità and the timely work of the Police, Darren Carabott said that there was some silence from the Government. This is when the relevant entities, including Identità, have already issued their statements, the PL said.

It would have been better for Carabott, rather than to recycle statements, to ask for an apology after the facts in Court show that he had been repeating the same lies for months and was blaming Minister Byron Camilleri and the authorities. Above all, he also based his position on untrue facts, so that today it turned out in Court that Identità and the Police had long acted on cases that they seized and that go beyond the thousands he invented, the PL said.

The Nationalist Party has been recaptured by extremists. Its only proposal is hatred and it is the Labour Party that gives solutions to challenges that the country is facing, the PL said.