Chris Said, the general secretary of the Nationalist Party, while addressing a press conference, accused the Prime Minister of “having been caught lying” when in Parliament he had said that former PN ministers and parliamentary secretaries had only returned €300,000 of the €1,600,000 they had given themselves as a rise to their ministerial salaries.

It is Said who has been caught out. He was careful about the words he chose to use. He did not bring any concrete proof to confirm what he had stated but based his argument on the fact that the Prime Minister, “just a few days after being elected”, had said that the former Cabinet members had returned the money.

Joseph Muscat had said those words because he believed what the PN had officially stated, that the former Cabinet members had returned all the money. He had had no time, “just a few days after being elected”, to check the veracity of the PN’s statement.

In fact, when finally he ordered a check, it resulted that only “20 per cent of the all the money taken had been refunded”. I still remember this government statement.

When, during the same press conference, Said was asked by a journalist how much money he had refunded, he looked very uncomfortable and just said he did not know because he had not made any calculations.

Perhaps if he looks up the official receipt given to him when he refunded any money, he would be in a position to remember.

Enough said.

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