Nationalist Party general secretary Paul Borg Olivier says he will not be intimated by Labour’s threats to send him to jail and will continue to “speak the truth”.

Dr Borg Olivier spoke to the press after giving a statement to police in Ħamrun where he was summoned yesterday following a request by Labour candidate Manuel Mallia to institute criminal libel proceedings over claims that Dr Mallia was somehow involved in the ongoing oil corruption scandal.

The action concerns an article on the PN media website maltarightnow.com, titled: Three Labour Candidates Involved In Oil Scandal, that repeated claims made by Finance Minister Tonio Fenech in a press conference that Dr Mallia was “involved” in the scandal, over which seven people have so far been arraigned.

Dr Borg Olivier told journalists the party was committed to continue exposing Labour’s “lies” as it had done in the case involving drugs in a Labour Party’s Safi club and other instances.

“We caught six Labour exponents lying in one week,” he said.

Dr Borg Olivier recalled the last person to be imprisoned in terms of the legal provision he was facing was Joe Calleja, editor of the then Nationalist satirical newspaper In-Niggieża, under a Labour Government in the 1970s.

“This shows how Labour is taking us back to those times, with threats being made against those fighting for the truth,” Dr Borg Olivier said.

Asked whether the PN would remove criminal libel if re-elected, Dr Borg Olivier said he had never taken criminal action against anyone for libel even though he had the opportunity to do so.

He noted that the PN had removed the provision relating to prison sentences from the Press Act in 2006 but Dr Mallia was requesting action under the Criminal Code.

“This will be part of my defence,” he said.