The two main political parties yesterday engaged in a war of words about the 2008 pre-election Mistra saga that had seen Nationalist MP Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando vehemently defending himself against corruption allegations by former Labour leader Alfred Sant.
Speaking on a TV programme on Wednesday evening, Nationalist MPs Francis Zammit Dimech and Beppe Fenech Adami revived the Nationalist Party’s claim that it was then Labour MEP Joseph Muscat who alerted the PN to the impending attack.
Former PN general secretary Joe Saliba had said as much in a 2008 interview with The Sunday Times shortly after Dr Muscat was elected Labour leader.
“On a TV programme, Muscat said that Labour would be releasing information to implicate one of the candidates in corruption. A couple of days after the programme, in a private conversation, Muscat inadvertently continued giving hints to show that he was aware of Labour’s strategy and we managed to identify the candidate they would be picking on,” Mr Saliba had said.
But the Nationalist MPs went one step further in recent days with Dr Zammit Dimech suggesting it was a “leak”.
The Labour Party yesterday accused the MPs of “spin as great as GonziPN’s 2008 lies”.
It pointed out that, while the MPs gave the impression that Dr Muscat leaked the story to the PN, Mr Saliba himself had said the “hints” were made “inadvertently”.
“GonziPN cannot even be consistent in its lies,” the party said, adding that this “farcical conspiracy theory” was intended to protect the clique.
Labour then went on the offensive, claiming, for the first time, that PN insiders had leaked the Mistra story to Labour.
“GonziPN knows who, among them, leaked the Mistra story on the eve of the election,” the PL said, adding that sensitive documents, including the Mistra contract, which confirmed Dr Pullicino Orlando’s involvement in turning a field into a nightclub, had been leaked from within the PN on the eve of the election.
Reacting, the PN dismissed this as “lies”. It also pointed out that Labour did not deny it was Dr Muscat who “blabbed” about the Mistra case to the PN, enabling them to pre-empt the story.
“Dr Muscat had let it be known that the PL had a planned strategy to attack a PN candidate,” a party spokesman said, adding that, four years after this was reported, Labour was trying to find a way out of what Dr Muscat had said.
The PN said Dr Muscat told its officials about Labour’s plans to show he knew about their strategy.
The complete silence of Dr Muscat and the PL confirmed Mr Saliba’s information, the PN noted.
Joseph Muscat speaking last night. Photo: Jason Borg