Labour’s “colonisation” of public entities through the deployment of party sympathisers was leading to “institutionalised corruption”, Opposition leader Simon Busuttil warned yesterday.

“In its first 25 months in power, the Labour government has already been embroiled in big scandals, the likes of which no PN administration had ever been dragged into throughout the previous 25 years,” he said.

Speaking during a short telephone interview on Radio 101, Dr Busuttil said that if had been in the Prime Minister’s shoes he would have reversed the controversial €1.65 million expropriation deal for half a property in Valletta and asked Planning Parliamentary Secretary Michael Falzon to shoulder political responsibility and resign.

Dr Busuttil also touched on the residency permits scandal allegedly involving former Labour candidate Joe Sammut. Mr Sammut has been accused in court of helping Libyan nationals obtain residency permits using forged documents and through fraudulent means.

“To date, we do not know how many visas and residency permits have been issued [in this manner], none have been revoked and no disciplinary action has been taken over this case” he said. Dr Busuttil criticised the government for its lack of urgency to debate the scandal within the National Security Committee, which will only convene on September 10, three weeks after the case broke out.

Turning to fuel prices, he pointed out that motorists had only benefitted from a 2c reduction, even though the price of crude oil had gone down by 73 per cent. The government was completely at a loss on how to address the ever-increasing traffic problem on Maltese roads, Dr Busuttil continued.

Referring to the government’s decision to scale down plans for a private university campus outside development zone at Żonqor Point in Marsascala but at the same time spread it to the Dock 1 site in Cospicua, he said the controversy was not a closed chapter. The Opposition would keep harping on the concerns raised by environmentalists even though the tract of virgin land that would be eaten up by the project had been decreased when compared to the original plans.

He rejected government claims that the PN had gone against the national interest when it raised questions over the controversial €360 million State guarantee for the new power station in the European Parliament.

Dr Busuttil said the Prime Minister had been caught lying over the new power station on a number of counts.

The project has not been completed in two years, as had been promised, was not being financed entirely by the private sector and was not necessary aimed at reducing utility rates, he said.

Reacting to Dr Busuttil’s remarks, the government and the Labour Party issued separate statements accusing him of being entrenched in negativism.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.