Updated: PN has become party of threats and allegations - PL

(Adds PN's statement)

The Nationalist Party's behaviour in the Sliema council saga showed that it had become a clumsy party of threats and allegations.

The Sliema council yesterday approved a vote of no confidence in mayor Nikki Dimech and appointed Joanna Gonzi, who was deputy mayor, as his successor.

Mr Dimech was kicked out of the PN after he told the police in a statement he had asked for a bribe. Mr Dimech has insisted he had been coerced in making such a statement after suffering a panic attack while in police custody and was not given access to his inhaler.

His expulsion from the party irked former PN councillor Sandra Camilleri, who claimed she was forced to sign the motion of no confidence by PN general secretary Paul Borg Olivier, who rejected the allegation as “unfounded”.

The PL said that the way the PN threatened an elderly councillor was shameful.

In a deliberate manner, general secretary Paul Borg Olivier, had stopped the work of the Sliema council to destabilise on of the party's mayors, it said adding that families and the Sliema commercial community had suffered in this dirty political games.

And as for GonziPN's incredible accusations of corruption, the PL's reply was BWSC, the party said.

PN’S REACTION

The Nationalist Party accused the PL of continuing with its campaign of support in favour of the former mayor.

It said that although Mr Dimech himself had admitted to bribery with the police, the PL was continuing with its defence of the former mayor. This, the PN said, was the same party which claimed it had zero tolerance for corruption.

Through its councillors' vote yesterday and its statement today, the PL was continuing to show how weak it was faced with allegations of corruption, the PN said.