‘Whistleblower’ in Tonio Fenech case being victimised, Joseph Muscat says

A “whistleblower” who exposed construction works done “as a favour” at Finance Minister Tonio Fenech’s house was being shuttled from one department to another, Labour Leader Joseph Muscat claimed yesterday.

Manoeuvres were under way to get the man, who was an Enemalta employee, out of the way, Dr Muscat said during a public dialogue meeting at the Naxxar Labour Party club.

In this light, Dr Muscat said it was pointless for the government to speak about introducing a Whistleblower Act: “You have to lead by example.”

Last November, the Labour Party media and MaltaToday claimed a turnkey sub-contractor had carried out a number of jobs on Mr Fenech’s house in return for his intervention to help the main contractor sell the former Jerma Hotel in Marsascala. The sale, according to the reports, did not take place and the main contractor ran into financial difficulties, with the sub-contractor demanding payment directly from the minister.

Mr Fenech denied these allegations, saying that he paid for the work after it had been certified by an architect. He also instituted a libel suit over the news item.

Dr Muscat, who was fielding questions by the public, again criticised the poor service offered by utility bills handler ARMS Ltd.

“The people at ARMS were personally chosen by the minister who is responsible – they were chosen as political appointees, which explains the abysmal service offered,” Dr Muscat said.

Instead of opening another office in Valletta, which had to be closed down because of works on the City Gate project, people had to go to the main offices in Luqa.

“They were not able to manage such a simple situation and open an interim office in Valletta. People have to take a day’s leave to go to Luqa and still walk away empty-handed because of long queues,” he said.

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi was responsible for all this, Dr Muscat charged.

Even though Dr Gonzi had apologised and promised two weeks ago to open an office in Blata l-Bajda, no one knew when it was going to be set up.

Replying to a question about the party’s future, Dr Muscat said an “internal reorganisation” exercise was taking place.

“We are doing everything with a plan in mind. We are looking at where it will take us, not only in the election, but also to govern with visionary policies,” he said.

The Labour Party had not enjoyed the people’s trust since 1976 except for two years in 1996 and 1997. “We have to see what the Labour Party did when it had the majority of the country behind it – during those years it had transformed itself into a movement which brought together people from different sectors,” he said.

Dr Muscat, who has been promising to create a movement, said it took more than voting for the Labour Party on election day. “We need your help – we need hundreds of volunteers to help us prepare for the election and what comes afterwards.”

Meanwhile, Dr Muscat was also asked about the living wage – a concept that was also being picked up by the social partners, he said.

The living wage is a calculation of how much money a person needs to live decently in a particular country.

However, the burden of a living wage should not be shouldered solely by the private sector. Instead companies who offer these wages should be given incentives by the government, he said.

In a statement later, Mr Fenech categorically denied Dr Muscat’s accusations, saying they were based on hearsay and simply repeated allegations made a year ago.

Mr Fenech said he had already filed a libel suit over the allegations and pointed out that he had always been ready to show all the paperwork to prove everything was in order.

Dr Muscat defending someone who, instead of focusing on their job, was working on private business, Mr Fenech added.