Labour leader Joseph Muscat flew to Libya yesterday for “meetings” after his party’s international secretary solicited an invitation from the interim government last February, The Sunday Times has learnt.
In a press release issued late yesterday afternoon, the Labour Party said the visit took place at the invitation of the Libyan National Transitional Council.
But a letter seen by The Sunday Times sent by international secretary Alex Sceberras Trigona last February asked the council to organise a meeting for Dr Muscat.
The party said its delegation included MPs Karmenu Vella, Michael Farrugia and Noel Farrugia as well as Dr Sceberras Trigona.
“They are accompanied by representatives of the Libyan authorities,” the party said.
Asked how the invitation came about, a spokesman for the Labour Party said: “Dr Muscat was officially invited for meetings in Libya by the leadership of the TNC following contacts that have been taking place over more than a year.”
Dr Muscat met with NTC chairman Mustafa Abdul-Jalil in Tripoli last night.
Mr Jalil said Libya was committed to securing the best of relations between the two countries irrespective of who was in government. He also thanked the Maltese for helping the Libyans during last year’s crisis.
Dr Muscat promised that a new Labour government would work towards further improving relations between the two countries.
Asked whether this visit could send mixed messages about Malta’s political stability, a PL spokesman said:
“Labour uses all occasions to foster good relations between countries.
“It is not a visit by a Leader of the Opposition that instils instability but rather a Prime Minister who is not able to keep his majority together and chooses to opt for long recesses and taking votes.”
Last February, Dr Sceberras Trigona sent a letter to Libya’s Prime Minister Abdurraheem el-Keib, saying: “It would be an honour and a privilege for Dr Muscat, constitutional Leader of the Opposition in Malta who is also leader of the Partit Laburista, to lead a delegation to Libya to meet your Excellency and exchange views on promoting our bilateral relations further for the mutual benefit of our two peoples.”
The letter continues: “It would thus be greatly appreciated if the date and time for the appointment were really established soonest. Mr Pawlu Cauchi, an old friend who has been working in Libya for over 25 years, is being personally entrusted with coordinating dates and logistics with your officials to ensure a successful outcome for both our peoples.”
Mr Cauchi is a Labourite businessman who had good relations with the previous regime.
Signing the letter as international secretary and “former foreign minister”, Dr Sceberras Trigona said: “During the same visit it would be appropriate if the Maltese delegation were also received by the NTC chairman Mustafa Abdul-Jalil.”
Documents seen by The Sunday Times dated June 5, 2008, show that Noel Farrugia had presented himself to the Libyans as a potential Labour spokesman for “all Africa” in the event of Joseph Muscat being elected Labour leader.
Mr Farrugia had written: “Contestant Joseph Muscat has agreed that if he should be elected I will be the MLP spokesperson for all Africa with responsibility to create relations with African leaders. Of course, this would give me the opportunity to make (sic) a very special relationship with the Great Leader of (the) Libyan Revolution Colonel Muammar El Gaddafi.”
However, Mr Farrugia was in fact given the post of Labour spokesman for International Development Aid.