Opposition leader Simon Busuttil reacted strongly this afternoon to comments by John Dalli that he had helped orchestrate his downfall.

The comments were published in The Malta Independent. 

"As I stated last Saturday, it seems that for John Dalli crossing over to the Labour Party and shaming Malta by being dismissed from the European Commission is not bad enough. Now he wants to implicate me in his absurd conspiracy theories," Dr Busuttil said.

"The idea that I was behind his removal from the European Commission or somehow an 'accomplice' of former EC President Jose Manuel Barroso is preposterous. And it would be laughable were it not such a serious and false accusation levelled at me," Dr Busuttil said.

"For the record, therefore, I have no hesitation in categorically stating that I was never involved in any manner whatsoever, not even remotely, in John Dalli's unceremonious dismissal from the European Commission.

"Equally preposterous is John Dalli's claim that I saw him as an obstacle in my so-called 'bid to seize the Nationalist Party'. This could hardly be the case considering that when I contested the party leadership John Dalli had long been in bed with the Labour Party and even spent years shooting at the Nationalist Party from Super One TV in a most undignified manner for a person holding the office of a European Commissioner."

Dr Busuttil said John Dalli should stop inventing conspiracy theories and come to terms once and for all with the responsibility he ought to carry for the grave damage that he caused to his party and to his country.

"He should stop shifting onto others the responsibility that he should carry himself."