The Nationalist Party has challenged the Prime Minister to extend the investigation on the use of public officials and products for private work in Gozo beyond March 2013.

PN general secretary Chris Said said there were allegations that the practice being investigated was used after the general election and involved people who were engaged by the Labour government.

"This investigation and this case involving the husband of former Gozo minister Giovanna Debono is being used for political mileage. To prove that this is not the case, I challenge Prime Minister Joseph Muscat to extend the investigation to also cover the two years since the election," Dr Said said this morning.

He was addressing a press conference on the difference made by the councils where the Nationalist Party has a majority on Gozo.

"Is it true that public material and civil servants were used for private works? Is it true that a new restaurant in Marsalforn was built with public materials? These are the questions we want answered so that is why we want the investigation to stretch beyond March 9, 2013," he said.

Regarding the investigation, Dr Said said the PN will await the conclusions of the investigation to see what action to take.

He said the person being mentioned as the whistle blower had been in contact with him and party leader Simon Busuttil on payments that were still due for work he carried out for the Gharb council.

Among these, he mentioned a five-a-side football pitch, a football pitch in Gharb and a pedestal for a statue.

Dr Said said he had spoken to mayor David Apap who said that the payments were due from the Gozo ministry as the work was public. He said he relayed this back to the contractor - who he refused to name - and even urged him to get legal advice on how to recoup money owed.

Asked whether he knew of what was going on in Gozo, Dr Said he did not have the faintest clue. He also denied that his relatives were involved in the matter.

"My relatives have been interviewed by the police and denied everything being said. They are also disgusted at the way the police treated them but I will amplify on this at a later stage," he said.

When asked whether he had concrete evidence about what he was alleging, Dr Said that his job, as a politician, was convey the message of the people and this is what people in Gozo were talking about.

“I am not an investigator and neither am I a policeman. I will leave it up to the police to investigate. This is why I am challenging the Prime Minister to extend the investigation to beyond March 2013,” he said.

Prime Minister's reaction

Addressing a councils’ election activity in Kirkop, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said it was grievous that Dr Said and PN leader Simon Busuttil met the whistleblower who told them what was happening in Gozo and they did not say anything.

Why did they not go to the Police Commissioner, when did they meet the whistleblower, days, weeks or months ago?

Did Dr Busuttil keep the case under wraps because he was afraid of what else might be uncovered? Dr Said’s statements today, he said, should be scrutinised and what he knew and did not know should be made public.

Noting that there was more than one whistleblower, he said that the case was about works which used to be carried out in private properties and which were being paid for by the Maltese and Gozitans.

 

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