The Café Premier deal is a “scandal stinking of corruption”, Opposition leader Simon Busuttil charged yesterday.

He called on Prime Minister Joseph Muscat to shoulder responsibility for the deal.

“This money could have been spent on a new school, to reduce waiting lists and cut fuel prices,” Dr Busuttil said in an eight-minute interview on Radio 101. He said that, despite the Prime Minister’s denial of involvement in this scandal, the report said otherwise. “This payment should have never happened.”

He noted that the report also included an e-mail in which the Prime Minister replied, “OK let’s move on”, with reference to the payment.

The government could have got this property back simply by taking the tenants to court for not paying the rent, he said.

Dr Busuttil also questioned the timing of the meetings held between the Prime Minister and a Café Premier director immediately before and after the general election, and how it was possible that this was Labour’s top priority after spending 25 years in opposition.

The revelation made by Times of Malta that the owners had refused a €4.2 million offer from entrepreneur Anġlu Xuereb while the government offer was on the table, fuelled further questions.

If Dr Muscat wanted to keep his pre-electoral good governance pledge, he had to come clean on his involvement in this deal, Dr Busuttil said.