Updated - Adds Labour reaction - Had the scandal involving Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri taken place while Eddie Fenech Adami was prime minister, the two would not have lasted more than five minutes in their posts, Fenech Adami's former chief of staff, Richard Cachia Carauana, said today.
In a Facebook post, Mr Cachia Caruana said that in March 2013 he decided to move on and do different things.
"I am not currently involved in any political structures, strategies or meetings and have not been for three years."
He said that since March 2013 he had studiously avoided making any public comments about anything to do with the government or politics, or even any other subject for that matter. The only comments he had made in ‘public’ that could in any way be considered ‘political’ were in court in the libel suits he instituted against MaltaToday, minister Evarist Bartolo, minister Joe Mizzi and former minister Joe Grima.
"Until recently, my decision to move on had been respected by everyone other than MaltaToday. This began to change a few weeks ago when minister George Vella gave a misleading reply to a Parliamentary Question about me. Matters accelerated last week with a bizarre TV comment about me by the prime minister who was then followed by a number of his acolytes.
"Things reached a ridiculous level this morning when KullHadd ran a front page story related to the latest scandal to beset this government in which it claimed that I am part of the Nationalist Party’s strong response to this scandal, that I am in fact responsible for the PN campaign in this regard, that I had attended meetings on this PN response and also that I was coordinating members of parliament (one a former minister) from my house in Mdina.
The prime minister would be well advised to ask himself how Eddie Fenech Adami would have reacted to what has emerged about Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri in recent weeks. I can also give him the answer: They would not have lasted in the positions they hold for longer than five minutes.
"I have been left with no option but to set the record straight on this. These claims, repeated in MaltaToday, are totally false.
"The prime minister needs to focus properly on his chief of staff rather than on Eddie Fenech Adami's. I left that position twelve years ago.
"While we are at it, however, the prime minister would be well advised to ask himself how Eddie Fenech Adami would have reacted to what has emerged about Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri in recent weeks. I can also give him the answer: They would not have lasted in the positions they hold for longer than five minutes.
"I can also give him the same advice I would have given Eddie Fenech Adami (in the unlikely event that he would have required it): The harm you are doing to your reputation and that of the country by hanging on to these two people is staggering. Get rid of them both now. There is no politically acceptable reason for a minister and your chief of staff to have set up these convoluted trust and company structures anywhere, let alone in Panama and New Zealand."
LABOUR PARTY REACTS
In a reaction, the Labour Party said that anyone proposing a reduction in energy tariffs wouldn’t have lasted more than five minutes under any Nationalist administration
"Of course Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri wouldn’t have lasted five minutes under a Nationalist administration. Especially if they would have proposed the introduction of natural gas that contributed to Energy tariffs being reduced by 25%," the party said.