Mintoff had wanted Acting President to resign over power station controversy

Dom Mintoff had wanted Acting President Paul Xuereb to resign as a sign of solidarity during the controversy over the building of the power station at Delimara, Labour MEP John Attard Montalto said today.

Speaking on the Realta' discussion programme on TVM, Dr Attard Montalto said that after a protest against the power station plans, which Mr Mintoff had led in Marsaxlokk, il-perit sent him to San Anton late at night to ask Mr Xuereb to resign.

The reply was obvious, he said (Mr Xuereb, a former Speaker and Labour MP, stayed on).

(Mr Mintoff in 1987-88 had led the Labour opposition to the building of the power station, which was eventually built opposite his second home in Delimara.)

[attach id="207320" size="medium"]Paul Xuereb.[/attach]

Another 'mission impossible' entrusted to him, Dr Attard Montalto said, was when Mr Mintoff asked him to speak to the ecclesiastical authorities with a view to buying the Curia building to be used as a new Labour headquarters.

The result here was also obvious, Dr Attard Montalto said, even though he had said that it was a company which was interested in acquiring the building, and never revealed the intended purpose.

Labour MP and former minister Karmenu Vella, who was on the programme, said he had never heard this proposal about the Curia building and viewed it as sensationalism, adding that it was never an option.

Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca, a Labour Party general secretary for nine years under Mr Mintoff, also said that this matter was never discussed.