I would do nothing differently – Prime Minister

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi yesterday said he would not have done anything differently in the controversy that arose over the power station contract.

In a heated and loud exchange with Labour Party journalist Charlon Gouder at the Floriana granaries, Dr Gonzi said he had acted correctly and cooperated in the investigative process. All he regretted was the fact that the Labour Party never made a police report about their “false” accusations of corruption.

The Prime Minister lambasted the Labour Party for never mentioning anything positive about the government and said that he would publish all correspondence with the European Commission related to power station contract winners BWSC, at the appropriate time and after the Commission took a stand on the issue.

Asked about the poor service of Arms Ltd, Dr Gonzi conceded that his apology to consumers was not enough but action was already being taken and improvements should be seen within the coming days.

He said investigations were ongoing to see if anyone should be held responsible for failing consumers, but the priority at the moment was to improve the situation. One of the options being considered was to expand the operations of Arms to include other offices, not just the one in Luqa, and possibly within local councils. Dr Gonzi also took Labour to task for not fighting corruption strongly enough and said that the PN has shown in the past weeks that it would act against corruption – even if the person was one of the party’s own.

At one point, Dr Gonzi challenged Mr Gouder to go straight to the police commissioner after the interview to make a police report about any corruption he was alleging.

Asked about party financing, Dr Gonzi criticised Opposition leader Joseph Muscat for saying that the government should move forward on reforming the law without the Opposition.

He said this was “irresponsible” behaviour from Dr Muscat, and he appealed for the Labour Party to rejoin a parliamentary committee on the issue.

However, he said he would move ahead without Dr Muscat, because if he had to wait for the Labour Party in everything, the country would not have progressed and would still be dreaming about becoming Switzerland in the Mediterranean.