Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and Parliamentary Secretary Franco Mercieca yesterday declined to disclose the contents of the waiver from the ministerial code of ethics, despite a formal request by Times of Malta.

Mr Mercieca told the newspaper following an unrelated press conference yesterday morning that the waiver consisted of an agreement between himself and the Prime Minister.

“If you have a problem with the waiver and its details, go to the Office of the Prime Minister,” he told Times of Malta.

However, a request made to the Office of the Prime Minister to publish a copy of the waiver remained unanswered by the time of going to print.

Don’t try to belittle these operations as cosmetic

The Office of the Prime Minister also ignored questions on other aspects of The Sunday Times of Malta story which revealed that Mr Mercieca was not restricting his private practice to specialised operations, as specified by the Prime Minister, but was also conducting regular cosmetic surgery and cataracts operation at a fee of €400 each.

The newspaper reported that last Wednesday Mr Mercieca performed nine operations at a private hospital in Sliema.

Asked yesterday whether corrective laser eye surgery was part of his waiver, Mr Mercieca said that his laser operations were not merely cosmetic as they had been described.

“These can be life-saving operations. I do not refer to you as biċċa gurnalist but as a journalist, so do not try to belittle these operations as cosmetic,” the parliamentary secretary said.

Following reports earlier this year that Mr Mercieca continued with his private medical practice despite his appointment as parliamentary secretary, the Prime Minister said he had granted him a limited waiver so that the surgeon could continue performing specialised operations which could only be done by Mr Mercieca.

However, Thomas Fenech, chairman of the Ophthalmology department at Mater Dei Hospital, said the parliamentary secretary was not the only person in Malta able to perform certain eye operations.

Following the story in The Sunday Times of Malta, Mr Mercieca pledged to stop conducting private eye operations by the beginning of September after allowing for a “transitional period” in which he could train other doctors.

When asked last month whether the limited waiver permitted Mr Mercieca to conduct cataract operations, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat had said: “No, I’m talking about his specialisations.”

In Parliament last night the PN opposition tried to force a statement by Mr Mercieca and the Prime Minister in relation to the story in The Sunday Times of Malta.

But both Dr Muscat and Mr Mercieca declined an invitation by PN whip David Agius to make a formal statement.

Labour whip Carmelo Abela replied on the Prime Minister’s behalf, saying: “The Prime Minister has nothing to say.”

PN puts onus on Prime Minister

The Nationalist Party yesterday accused the Prime Minister of “lying” about the waiver from the ministerial code of ethics granted to Parliamentary Secretary Franco Mercieca and demanded an explanation.

Joseph Muscat had said the waiver was granted because only Mr Mercieca had the skills to perform certain medical interventions and this work was to be carried out at the end of the working week, the PN said.

“The public now knows that he has also been carrying out cosmetic surgery and other operations that can be performed by someone else, while working privately even during the week.”

The statement came in the wake of revelations by The Sunday Times of Malta that the Parliamentary Secretary has been performing regular private operations on cataracts and corrective laser surgery, in breach of the special waiver from the code of ethics granted to him by Dr Muscat.

The Nationalist Party accused the Prime Minister of hypocrisy. It argued that, while Labour had spent five years in Opposition criticising the former government for increasing Cabinet members’ financial package by €500 a month, the Prime Minister had now given a waiver “behind people’s backs” for Mr Mercieca to earn €3,600 in a morning or €800 an hour while he was supposed to be carrying out his official duties as a parliamentary secretary.

“Dr Muscat now needs to answer for his deeds as he is no longer in opposition but Prime Minister. The buck stops with him,” the PN said.

Hitting back, Labour issued a counter-statement saying it would not take lessons on ethics from the Nationalist Party.

Before talking about ethics, Labour said PN leader Simon Busuttil should take a good look at the more prominent members of his shadow Cabinet, referring to controversies involving former finance minister Tonio Fenech.

“The former finance minister took a free flight aboard a private jet with businessmen to watch a football match.

“He had work done on his private home which, it was said, had to be paid for by another contractor as commission. He was given a Maltese tal-Lira clock as a gift from people involved in the oil procurement scandal before the general election.”

Mr Mercieca has said he will give up his private practice in September.

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