Opposition leader Simon Busuttil could not be taken seriously after the way he  rewarded shadow minister Claudio Grech instead of disciplining him for not having said the truth in testimony before the Public Accounts Committee, the Labour party said today.

The incident before the PAC happened when Mr Grech was questioned in connection with the oil procurement scandal. He denied having met oil trader George Farrugia before 2012.

However e-mails later surfaced showing he met Mr Farrugia several years earlier to discuss the privatisation of the LPG facility. Mr Grech subsequently denied deliberately misleading the committee, insisting he had forgotten the earlier meeting.

In a statement, the Labour Party said that despite his repeated statements on standards in public life, Dr Busuttil had not taken action against Mr Grech and instead rewarded him by entrusting him with the PN vision for Malta's economy. It showed, the PL said, that Dr Busuttil said one thing and did another.

PN REACTION

In a reaction, the PN said Joseph Muscat's standards were the lowest in Malta's political history. He was running a Cabinet rife with scandals and had done nothing about:

Parliamentary Secretary Michael Falzon's personal involvement in the Gaffarena scandal;

Allegations made against Parliamentary Secretary Ian Borg; and

Minister Konrad Mizzi's involvement in hedging agreements which led to a loss of €14 million.

Dr Muscat himself was personally involved in the Cafe’ Premier scandal.

The PN said Dr Muscat has lost any credentials to speak about good governance.