Indirect hints given by Joseph Muscat during the election campaign enabled the Nationalist Party to deduce that the MLP was about to launch an attack on Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando, PN general secretary Joe Saliba tells The Sunday Times in an interview published today.

Dr Muscat never actually mentioned Dr Pullicino Orlando, but comments he made at different activities were enough for the PN to send Dr Pullicino Orlando to Dr Sant’s activities as the attack was about to be launched.

In an interview with Herman Grech, Mr Saliba explains that his own actions and comments during the Mistra controversy were not contradictory to what the Prime Minister said. His role as party general secretary was for the PN to win as many votes as possible. In contrast the Prime Minister’s priority was the country, not the party, he says.

Mr Saliba, who is to step down in the coming weeks after nine years at the post, says the PN has as much chance of winning the next general election as the MLP. It would be wrong for his successor to let Labour take a walk over, or take matters for granted, he says. The full text of the interview can be seen in The Sunday Times. Extracts in Maltese can be seen on video above.