Updated 5.33 p.m. - Opposition leader Simon Busuttil this afternoon lashed out at the prime minister over the Cafe Premier controversy and said the least the country expected was for the prime minister to keep his electoral promise of political responsibility.
This, he said, was the most serious scandal of the Labour government, not only because it involved a big sum of money, but also because the prime minister was personally and directly involved and had to answer for it.
Speaking on Radio 101, Dr Busuttil said that, as the Auditor-General had confirmed, there was no justification for the government to pay €4.2 million of taxpayers’ money to take back the Cafe Premier property which was actually owned by the government and had been rented out to a company which was not paying the rent.
The governemnt could have easily recovered the property through the courts and a court case had been instituted (under the former governemnt) Dr Busuttil said.
Dr Busuttil noted how the Auditor-General’s report showed an e-mail by the prime minister personally authorising the use of taxpayers’ money. There had also been a number of other exchanges between the prime minister and a director of Cafe' Premier, where Dr Muscat indicated he would value the property and was involved in discussions about it. Career Civil servants were not involved.
All this had happened after the general election, but the prime minister had admitted that he met a Cafe’ Premier director twice before the election, reinforcing the ‘stink’ in the whole issue, Dr Busuttil said.
He said no one believed the prime minister when he claimed he did not discuss the Cafe’ Premier before the election. The fact that this ‘bail out’ took place immediately after the election further reinforced suspicions that the issue was discussed and agreed before the general election. Indeed, the Cafe Premier closed immediately after the election.
Dr Busuttil said the prime minister must have been joking when he said he shouldered his responsibility when he allowed the Auditor-General to carry on with his investigation. The investigation was requested by the Opposition, Dr Busuttil said.
Before the election, Dr Muscat preached political responsibility. Now he had to shoulder his, Dr Busuttil said.
Earlier this afternoon, the Nationalist Part reiterated its call for Prime Minister Joseph Muscat to "come clean" over the €4.2 million deal and described the issue as a "textbook case of sleaze".
Addressing a press conference outside the former Cafe Premier, shadow minister Jason Azzopardi said the Prime Minister was personally involved in the scandal as he had directed all negotiations with director Mario Camilleri.
Dr Azzopardi said Dr Muscat kept the negotiations secret and it was only because of the Opposition's insistence that the National Audit Office unveiled the government's wrongdoings.
The NAO report on the deal revealed various shortcomings in the deal that “detract from the prudence expected” when deciding to undertake disbursements of such magnitude.
Spokesman Ryan Callus said the Opposition still expected the Prime Minister to take political responsibility for the bad use of taxpayers' money.
He described Dr Muscat's declaration that he already shouldered responsibility as a joke.
"Should we now thank the Prime Minister for allowing the NAO to investigate," Mr Callus asked.
The Nationalist Party said it would insist for the NAO report to be debated in the Public Accounts Committee.