Labour Party candidate Manuel Mallia has hit out at PN general secretary Paul Borg Olivier and the PN for trying to 'obscenely' implicate him in the oil procurement scandal.

He said at a press conference that although as a lawyer he had worked for the Farrugia family, this scandal was never mentioned.

He had been engaged by the Farrugia family in connection with the alleged siphoning of funds by George Farrugia from his family's company. This had nothing to do with corruption or oil procurement commissions. He never knew of the oil commission scandal before it hit the media.

Dr Mallia said he would be taking legal action against Dr Borg Olivier over the comments published on Maltarightnow in terms of criminal law and would request imprisonment.

It was very serious, he said, that it had been said that he was involved in the scandal. It was up to the court to determine the punishment, he said. The least he would have expected from the PN was a public apology.

Dr Mallia also hit out at Finance Minister Tonio Fenech and said the minister was incorrect when he claimed that he had accused the directors of Intershore Ltd - the company which administered Aikon Ltd, the screen company of George Farrugia, of fraudulent activities.

He said that on the instruction of his clients he had written to the lawyers  of the fiduciary company Intershore Ltd and copied the directors, informing them of what happened and asking them to regularise their position. Martin Fenech on behalf of the three directors wrote back saying they would perform a due diligence of the activities of the company.

Labour candidate David Farrugia Sacco said that although he was the legal adviser of Powerplan Ltd (the Farrugia brothers' company) and John's Group (owned by the Farrugia brothers) he had consistently denied giving any information to anyone. He had also denied any frame-up of the minister and had instituted legal action.

Dr Farrugia Sacco also said he will take legal action.

Replying to questions, Dr Mallia and Dr Farrugia Sacco again denied knowledge of the oil scandal, whether as lawyers or politicians.

Dr Mallia and Dr Farrugia Sacco also insisted that as lawyers, they would never reveal information to politicians or anyone else.

BORG OLIVIER REACTION

In a reaction, Dr Borg Olivier said Maltarightnow had reported a press conference held at PN headquarters which revealed untruths by Dr Mallia. He noted that the last time that a journalist was thrown to prison was under a Labour government and this was a throwback to those times.