Sant accused of misleading people

Nationalist MP Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando again declared that he had nothing to do with the proposed building of a disco in Mistra Valley and said the contract which opposition leader Alfred Sant had referred to in his speech on Monday proved it. Indeed, he had been the one to hand a copy of the contract to the Police Commissioner before the election.

Speaking in Parliament yesterday during the debate in reply to the President's speech at the state opening of Parliament, he deplored the fact that Dr Sant had referred to the subject on Monday when a police investigation was still ongoing. This reflected a lack of respect for the investigation.

He accused Dr Sant of still misleading the people for reasons best known to himself or others who may have any particular interest in the case, commercial or otherwise.

He reiterated that once police investigations were completed, he would be able to show how his actions and those of the Nationalist Party before the general election had been correct.

Dr Pullicino Orlando said the plans for the disco, which were publicly accessible, showed that this was to have been able to take a maximum of 500 people and not 4,000 and then 8,000, as claimed by Dr Sant. He tabled the plans of the proposed disco as approved by Mepa, saying that of the club area of 740 square metres, just over half would have been a landscaped area with indigenous trees. Much of the remaining site would have been a paved area with a small area not higher than two metres.

Dr Pullicino Orlando said he was tabling these plans not because he had any part in the project, but to show how Dr Sant had been giving misleading information.

He also tabled an article published in The Times on March 1, wherein he explained that he knew of the project but not its details, because that involved only the developer.

Dr Pullicino Orlando denied that he had ever said he did not know to whom he had leased the Mistra site. What he had not known was who had submitted the development application on behalf of the lessee.

The lessee had later explained to him that he had asked somebody else to submit the application because he feared that if a particular influential person involved in the same business came to know, he would try to obstruct it, as he had done in the past. Indeed, one had to assume that the same had happened with the help of the MLP, Dr Pullicino Orlando said.

Despite the enormous pressure being brought on him by the Labour spin, he would hold back comment until the conclusion of the police investigation. When that happened he would be able to show how correct he and the Nationalist Party had been in their actions and declarations before the general election, he added. Everybody would then be able to judge who had been misleading the public. Those who had launched this strategy against him would need to give a different interpretation of what they called "The Mistra Scandal".

Earlier, Dr Pullicino Orlando referred to women's participation in the workplace. He said it was very difficult for certain women to work because of school times and school holidays, which were too long, and suggested adjustments to the educational system.

Dr Pullicino Orlando said he agreed with the government's plans to propose legislation that would protect those in cohabiting relationships.