The prime minister’s silence on a bombshell story by The Sunday Times of Malta of July 19 about Mark Gaffarena negotiating on behalf of the government to buy a Palazzo in the heart of Valletta from several owners to resell to the government making a killing in profit spoke volumes, the Nationalist Party said today.

In a statement, the party called on Joseph Muscat to spill the beans on his government’s intentions to buy Palazzo Verdelin in Valletta.

“This major development in the close links between Labour and Gaffarena has not been denied by any of the protagonists.

“Intriguingly however, during a press conference held last week by the PN, the reporter from the Labour Party’s media made it very clear that she was privy to information, never rendered public, relating to an extended investigation on this latest scandal within the Gaffarena-Castille-Falzon scandal.

“To date, the government that does not miss a PR opportunity, has been lost for words. Muscat has remained silent. A silence that speaks volumes,” the PN said.

The party noted that the government had neither denied what The Sunday Times of Malta revealed nor informed the public, as it was duty bound to do, of what steps it intended to take, if any, following this latest scandal.

“It is unheard of, in any liberal democracy, for the government to turn a blind eye to a damning story exposing Gaffarena being given access to privileged information about the purchase by government of a historic building in the heart of our capital city which houses the police station to boot.

“It is totally unacceptable to have an evidently incestuous relationship between the Labour Party media and the Labour government to create spin and red herrings.

“The Gaffarena-Castille-Falzon scandal has firmly and truly trodden any vestige of the government’s credentials on transparency and good governance. This scandal has shown to what extent is this government rotten to the core,” it said.