UPDATED - Opposition leader Simon Busuttil this morning expressed shock over a public declaration by Toni Abela, the PL's deputy leader, that he was prepared to act secretly to make people rich, 'as Konrad Mizzi had done'.

The declaration was made in Tarxien where Dr Abela said he was reacting to claims that the government was secretly making people rich.

Dr Busuttil said in an early morning Radio 101 interview today that secretly making people - some people - rich was exactly what Joseph Muscat and his government had been doing, as shown in the case of the Cafe Premiere.

Was this acceptable for the people? It certainly was not acceptable for the PN.

Everyone needed to be treated equally. There should be justice and there should not be discrimination. But Dr Abela's statement showed otherwise.

If Dr Muscat allowed this statement to pass, it showed that Dr Muscat was a salesman, not a statesman, Dr Busuttil said.

Significantly, he added, Dr Abela had referred to (energy minister) Konrad Mizzi.

Dr Mizzi, Dr Busuttil recalled, had been rapped by the Auditor General for having interfered and instructed Enemalta to reach a hedging agreement with the Azeri state owned oil company. The auditor general had condemned Dr Mizzi but Dr Muscat did not live up to his promise of political transparency.

Dr Muscat and Dr Mizzi had quietly visited Azerbaijan without taking journalists with them. All this led the PN to suspect that something was amiss, and that there could be corruption.

And now Dr Abela had admitted that things were being done secretly and would continue to be done.

He expected Dr Muscat to act against Dr Abela and Dr Mizzi, Dr Busuttil said.

'SCANDALOUS' ENEMALTA DEALS

Dr Busuttil said it was scandalous how the government had secretly transferred the Marsa power station and to Enemalta a few days before the power station was shut down and before a Chinese company bought a stake in the corporation.

What this meant, he said, was that once the power station was dismantled, the land would not be returned to the people but would be kept by Enemalta for 99 years. 

This deal was signed secretly and was only revealed by the PN.

Just as disgraceful was another secret agreement when the government transferred land to the investors of the new Delimara power station for 34 years. Why had this been done when the power purchase agreement was for 18 years?

In yet another secret agreement, Dr Busuttil said, the government had transferred 310,000 square metres of land - 45 times the size of Ta' Qali stadium - for solar power operations by a Chinese company. The price was way below the price offered to Maltese companies wishing to instal solar power units on the roofs of government buildings, showing blatant discrimination, Dr Busuttil said.

Speaking in an early morning interview on the last day of campaigning for the local council elections, Dr Busuttil said the people were increasingly realising the difference between what Labour promised and what it actually delivered.

He said he had enjoyed meeting as many people as possible in this campaign, and was particularly satisfied with meetings he had had with families which had not voted, or had not voted for the PN at the last general election.

The people, he said, were recognising that the PN was in transition, a process which was not ready but a works in progress.

Many people who had given a chance to Labour two years ago were now realising that there was a difference between what Labour promised and the truth - particularly with regard to political responsibility, meritocracy, transparency and a range of promises which were not kept, the biggest being about the building of the new power station.

The people, he said, would not be fooled twice.  

The electoral campaign, he said, had brought out the differences between the PN and the PL. This was a local elections campaign and the PN had focussed on local issues, comparing the performance of the various councils. In contrast, the prime minister had not spoken about the local councils and acted like Saturday's was a general election.  

Dr Busuttil said he was concerned by the number of people he met who told him they were scared about speaking out about their views openly for fear of retribution, particularly in Gozo. Malta, he said, should not be this type of country and this was something which should shame the prime minister. The PN was promising it would be a fearless voice for the people and would seek to remedy all injustices.

Under this government, he said, people were being rendered beggars for what they deserved. He had heard stories of people whose careers were ruined when others were promoted for political reasons. Some people no longer bothered to apply for posts because it was obvious that requirements were tailor-made for particular people.

MANUEL MALLIA

Referring to the re-emergence of former minister Manuel Mallia in this campaign, Dr Busuttil recalled that Dr Mallia was removed not only because of the shooting incident involving his driver, but the way how attempts were made to cover the truth. His view was that political responsibility should have been shouldered not only by Dr Mallia but by the prime minister because the official statement which spoke of 'warning shots in the air' was actually issued by the prime minister's spokesman, Kurt Farrugia.

Despite everything, Dr Muscat hugged Dr Mallia last week and he was declared a soldier of steel, the usual prelude for an appointment. At the foreign ministry, everybody knew how Dr Mallia would replace George Vella.

He would let the people reach their own conclusions, Dr Busuttil said. 

INTERCONNECTOR'S INAUGURATION TODAY

Turning to the inauguration of the interconnector today, Dr Busuttil said he welcomed the conclusion of this project, after it was delayed by more than a year under the present government. This was an important project for the country, thanks to the Nationalist Party which started it. Now Malta could buy electricity from mainland Europe. The average price of power purchases was six cents per unit. So how had the government bound itself to buy power from Electrogas - who will build the new power station - at 9c6?

The fact that the inerconnector was being inaugurated today, at the end of an electoral campaign was a political gimmick. He hoped that Dr Muscat would be magnanimous enough to admit that this was a project planned and started by the former government.

Dr Busuttil urged all voters to do their duty and vote on Saturday. Starting from a 36,000 vote deficit was tough and the PN, he said, did not expect to win a majority, especially  as most of the localities where the elections would be held were strongly Labour. However he was sure the PN could make progress on Saturday. The PN was on a marathon and this was still early days, he said. But he was sure that eventually the PN would win.