Labour leader Joseph Muscat yesterday said the Prime Minister was aware of drugs allegations related to the Safi PL club and did nothing about them.

Lawrence Gonzi was informed about what happened when he was minister responsible for the police force

Questioned about whether he and his deputy, Toni Abela, would be shouldering political responsibility over how the alleged discovery of a block of cocaine at the Safi Labour club in 2009 was covered up and not reported to the police, Dr Muscat said Dr Gonzi was equally to blame.

“Dr Gonzi was informed about what happened when he was minister responsible for the police force and did not report the allegations either,” Dr Muscat told journalists at the end of a tour of the Island Dog Sanctuary in Tas-Silġ in Marsaxlokk.

Dr Muscat said he had nothing to add to the interview he had given The Sunday Times.

In this interview, Dr Muscat admitted he and Dr Abela had made a mistake and the matter should have been reported to the police as soon as it happened.

However, he insisted he had not lied about the issue and that he would not be asking Dr Abela to resign. On Sunday, the Nationalist Party insisted Dr Muscat should shoulder responsibility for having been aware of the incident where cocaine, referred to as a white block, was allegedly being prepared for trafficking.

PN general secretary Paul Borg Olivier said Dr Muscat should withdraw his candidature while Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said the positions of Dr Muscat and Dr Abela were not tenable.

PN candidate Clyde Puli joined the chorus of Nationalist disapproval, saying Dr Muscat was using two weights and two measures by treating Dr Abela differently to former PL deputy leader Anġlu Farrugia, who was made to resign last month.

“Now that Dr Muscat got caught in this big fat lie, he’s decided to throw accountability in the bin,” Mr Puli said.

Dr Muscat said Dr Abela had shouldered political responsibility for the case by taking action against the person allegedly behind what had been reported to him.

He reiterated what he said in the interview, that the matter could have been handled differently.

Asked why Dr Abela had not resigned after the case emerged, Dr Muscat said Dr Abela kept his position in the same way Finance Minister Tonio Fenech had kept his over the oil scandal.

Referring to Dr Gonzi’s call for him to withdraw from the election, Dr Muscat asked whether Dr Gonzi wanted another one-horse race.

Meanwhile, during the sanctuary visit, Dr Muscat said Labour was proposing to appoint a commissioner responsible for animal rights.

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