Beppe Fenech Adami pointed out that Malta had already been the victim of terrorism, referring to the attack on the Corinthia Hotel in Tripoli.

PN deputy leader Beppe Fenech Adami yesterday made an impassioned plea to the government to actively help the Maltese investors facing dire straits because of the situation in Libya.

Speaking during the debate on the Criminal Code (Amendment) Bill, he pointed out that Malta had already been a victim of terrorism, referring to the attack on the Corinthia Hotel in Tripoli.

It would therefore be a mistake for Malta to stay neutral in the face of what was happening or to hold back for fear of retaliation.

It would be immoral to remain neutral in this situation because the country was already paying a high price because of terrorism.

Maltese investors had poured money into Libya because they had seen great opportunities in various sectors.

However, in the light of what was happening these companies were facing difficulties because they had no access to the money which was owed to them or to their properties. In Libya, there was complete anarchy, with no government and no banking system.

The Maltese government now needed to seriously intervene to stop these investors from collapsing. It was useless for the Prime Minister to simply reply to e-mails; a more pro-active approach was needed.

There was no ownership of the problem and affected businessmen were being passed from one minister to another.

They needed a focal point to know which minister could take the immediate decisions before things would also have an adverse effect on their Malta operations. “The government needed to be humble and learn from how the previous administration had handled the Libyan crisis.”

Winding up the debate, Minister Owen Bonnici said a unit formed of two ministries – the Foreign Affairs Ministry and the Home Affairs Ministry – under the coordination of the Office of the Prime Minister – was giving help to all those who asked for it.

Dr Fenech Adami said Malta now had refugees from Syria and even Libya, where the Islamic State had found fertile ground.

There was the probability of thousands fleeing from Libya, and the Maltese authorities had to be alert for the possibility of organised crime.

He referred to the radicalisation of young people, as had happened in the UK, where three British-born Syrian teenage girls had run away to join ISIS militants in Syria. He acknowledged “the great work” being done by the Mariam Al Batool Islamic School

Dr Fenech Adami acknowledged that the situation would have been different were it not for this educational institution.

However, other informal schools were sprouting up to teach the Muslim religion, and he warned that it was necessary to be careful that this would not lead to undesirable things.

Nationalist MPs Tonio Fenech and Francis Zammit Dimech also contributed to the parliamentary debate.