Simon Busuttil said he only got to know on Friday of an e-mail sent last year to the PN general secretary outlining the “works for votes” scam under former Gozo minister Giovanna Debono.
The Nationalist Party leader yesterday told Times of Malta the email was brought to his attention by PN secretary general Chris Said.
“The e-mail published today [yesterday] was brought to my attention two days ago [Friday] after Dr Said checked his mailbox following the publication of the name of the contractor [who is making the allegations],” Dr Busuttil said.
The Nationalist Party is being accused by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat of failing to report the matter to the police when it learnt about it almost a year ago.
Dr Busuttil was answering questions about an e-mail published yesterday in Malta Today. The e-mail, written in bad Maltese, with the subject line The Problems was sent in May 2014 to Dr Said from Gozitan contractor Joe Cauchi.
Mr Cauchi is one of several whistleblowers who have come forward with details of an alleged scam that saw public funds being used to finance private projects in Gozo. The supplies for these private jobs were allegedly furnished for free by the Construction and Maintenance Unit, a department headed by Ms Debono’s husband Anthony until March 2013.
Busuttil unfazed
In his e-mail to Dr Said, Mr Cauchi complained that he had not received payment for various jobs prior to the election, which he described as “works for votes”.
The e-mail implies that Dr Said knew what Mr Cauchi was talking about and includes a non-exhaustive list of private works the construction firm was allegedly asked to do.
These included works in a basement in a Victoria home, a reservoir in Nadur, private garages and private roads.
But Dr Busuttil was unfazed by the fresh information that emerged from the e-mail. After initially avoiding journalists who tried to ask him about the case following a political activity in Mosta, Dr Busuttil chose to answer by e-mail.
He insisted Dr Said had already given an explanation about the matter during a press conference on Saturday.
However, in the press conference, Dr Said had only mentioned one aspect of the case that involved public works contracted by the Għarb council for which Mr Cauchi had not been paid. Dr Said made no reference to the “works for votes” scam mentioned in the e-mail.
Dr Busuttil would not answer the question whether Dr Said’s position was tenable after the published e-mail showed the PN general secretary was aware of the public-funds-for-private-work scheme.
The Opposition leader insisted his stand was clear: “I await the conclusions of the police investigations and will take the necessary steps on that basis. The sooner the police conclude their investigations the better.”
Dr Busuttil then shifted the onus on Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and Gozo Minister Anton Refalo, insisting they had to explain why they concealed the facts of the case for several months to exploit them during an electoral campaign.
“It is for Minister Refalo to explain why, in his capacity as minister, he did nothing about the contractor’s complaint and concealed the matter – in collusion with the Prime Minister – for several months,” Dr Busuttil said.
He accused the Prime Minister of exploiting an alleged wrongdoing for electoral gain, insisting this made “a mockery of decency”.
The controversy was also mentioned by Dr Muscat during his Sunday political activity in Qormi, insisting the Opposition failed to take action over the matter despite having been aware of the claims against Ms Debono’s husband for at least a year.
“It is not true that Dr Said was not aware on the true nature of these works,” Dr Muscat charged as he read out the e-mail.
“Why didn’t he [Dr Said] go to the police?”
Dr Said had said he had not taken action because the whistleblower had told him he was going to flag the case with Dr Refalo. But Dr Muscat yesterday insisted this was the reason why the case was being investigated.
Dr Refalo has admitted being informed of the scam last November while the police started investigating after Malta Today first published details of the scam on March 8.
The Prime Minister also referred to Dr Said’s rebuttal that such a scheme had persisted after the election. The PN general secretary alleged that private works for a restaurant were carried out using public funds after the election.
“The police can investigate whatever they want as we have nothing to hide. However, I was blamed for interfering with the police for saying this,” Dr Muscat said. He insisted this case was only the tip of the iceberg and had been uncovered only after the introduction of the Whistleblower Act and the removal of time bar on allegations of corruption involving politicians.
kurt.sansone@timesofmalta.com