MLP, PN in catfight over Mediterranean cruise

The Malta Labour Party and the Nationalist Party yesterday exchanged broadsides over a holiday PN general secretary Joe Saliba took on a yacht belonging to contractor Nazzareno Vassallo.

The MLP raised questions about the trip and the PN challenged Labour to declare whether contractors close to its MPs would be excluded from any government tenders when Labour is in government.

The MLP accused Mr Saliba and the government of trying to cover up the holiday. The PN rebutted saying Mr Saliba passed through the normal channels, using his passport before he left and giving comments to the media on his return, showing he had nothing to hide or be ashamed of.

"The PN general secretary's vacation in the Mediterranean on a luxurious yacht belonging to contractor Nazzareno Vassallo is evidence of how close the PN and government officials are to contractors in our country," the MLP said.

The MLP said the holiday raised several questions about how this friendship had come about, how deep-rooted and longstanding it was and how many contracts Mr Vassallo had won both for PN projects and for the government since Mr Saliba had been PN general secretary. The PN countered saying that, only a few months ago, the Labour media had tried to create an issue and attack the government by saying that Mr Vassallo's company had failed to win the tender for the Sant'Antnin recycling plant.

"In this case, Mr Vassallo's company appealed and lost Lm25,000. The Labour media started attacking the government for not awarding the tender to Mr Vassallo's company. Now the Labour Party is saying that Mr Vassallo is a blue-eyed contractor awarded contracts by the PN government," the PN said, adding "The MLP is such an opportunistic party it is even inconsistent with itself".

The MLP alleged that what Mr Saliba did went "beyond the demarcation line separating a friendship between a contractor and a politician".

Mr Saliba declared that, as general secretary, he had nothing to do with the award of tenders "and, as opposed to Labour MPs, I have no commercial ties with any businessmen," he said.

The MLP argued that with Mr Saliba's attitude, "one should not blame people if they lose faith in public administration and recall how contracts are given to friends of friends".

The PN retorted that the MLP was trying to create a sensation to make people forget the visit the MLP had organised to Dubai which a number of contractors were also visiting.

It said the MLP should declare whether the contractors who had been visiting Dubai at the same time as a Labour delegation would be excluded from any government tenders if Charles Mangion and Charles Buhagiar are once again elected to Parliament.

"All the MLP is doing is trying to create a diversion so that people forget what Jason Micallef said behind closed doors.

"The policy of the Labour Party is one of vindictiveness, which in Alfred Sant and Mr Micallef's own words, is eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth politics," the PN said.