The Nationalist Party has denounced Prime Minister Robert Abela’s remarks on the party’s proposal for a fuel hub off Hurd’s Bank as “lies”, and said that the Labour Party leader is in “a state of panic.”

The PN has proposed the fuel hub as something which would service thousands of vessels passing through the Mediterranean, and would also feed LNG to the Delimara power station via a subsea pipeline, which would allow the removal of the LNG Tanker from next to the power station.

Abela however on Wednesday told the press that they should be asking who the “hidden investor” behind the project is: “Ask if it is the biggest oil smuggler the country has ever seen. These are the people creating PN’s electoral manifesto,” Abela said.

Soon after, the Nationalist Party denounced the allegations and said that if Abela has any information, he should take it to the police.

“It is evident that Robert Abela is in a state of panic over the proposals being announced, day after day, by the PN,” the party said in a statement.

“Although he may think he can catch the PN off guard with allegations such as those he made today about the Mediterranean Maritime Fuel Hub proposal, it is clear that the PN is more prepared to lead the country than a Labour Party that is tired and out of ideas,” the party said.

The PN categorically denied what Abela said and reiterated that every proposal it is putting forward is being made following consultation with experts who have studied its proposals in detail.

These proposals are being well received by the public and by key stakeholders in our country, including this proposal, which will lead to the removal of the gas tanker that residents of Marsaxlokk and Birżebbuġa had been promised by the Labour Government itself would be removed after three years, the party said.

“The Prime Minister may not have realised that this same proposal was also well received by the Chairman of the Malta Maritime Forum, who said that the introduction of a bunkering facility outside Marsaxlokk Bay is extremely important for the future of the maritime sector,” the PN said.

The party invited Abela to take any information he has, if at all, to the Police.

“Maltese and Gozitan families expect Robert Abela, instead of inventing stories and trying to scare people with the bogeymen, to offer his own vision for new economic niches, as Alex Borg and the PN are doing,” the party said.

“It is clear, however, that because Robert Abela has no way of continuing to grow the Maltese economy other than by pursuing a policy of cheap labour from outside the EU, he is resorting to negative politics and scaremongering,” it concluded.