The two independent MPs in Parliament are set to back next week’s motion of no confidence in the government.
Contacted yesterday, former Gozo minister and ex-Nationalist Party MP Giovanna Debono and former Labour backbencher Marlene Farrugia both said they would be supporting the motion.
The motion of no confidence in the government was filed by the Opposition following the Prime Minister’s failure to dismiss his chief of staff Keith Schembri and Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi who are embroiled in the Panamagate scandal.
“I will be voting for Joseph Muscat not to remain Prime Minister,” Mrs Debono said matter-of-factly.
Dr Farrugia was more forthcoming in her reply, saying she would be backing the motion with a broken heart but confident that she was doing the right thing because her loyalty was towards the nation and not the Labour Party.
“I will obviously be voting in favour of the motion for a long list of good reasons,” she said.
Dr Farrugia said she was facing a “traumatic and psychologically devastating” choice on Monday, between the party she militated in and the nation’s best interest.
“I will be voting with a heavy heart because I have to choose between two things I love dearly. But when I took my oath of office as a member of Parliament, I swore allegiance to the nation and not the Labour Party. My loyalty is to the nation and not the party,” she said.
When I took my oath of office as an MP, I swore allegiance to the nation, not the Labour Party
The Australian Financial Review website on Wednesday revealed how a Malta advisory firm told Panama law firm Mossack Fonseca last October that two senior figures in the Maltese government, ostensibly Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri, would use Panama companies to hold shares in recycling and remote gaming companies.
It said fresh records showed that Mossack Fonseca approached six more banks about opening an account for the Energy Minister and the Prime Minister’s chief of staff companies, which were to hold investments that they said were “commercially sensitive”.
It was further claimed that last December the “go-ahead” was given for accounts to be opened with BSI Panama bank which requested an initial deposit of $100,000, while total deposits would have to reach a minimum of $800,000 within a year or else the accounts would be closed.
Dr Mizzi and Mr Schembri both denied the fresh allegations.
Mrs Debono resigned from the Nationalist Party but retained her seat as an independent MP last May after her husband was charged in court with fraud and misappropriation of public funds. She denied all the allegations made against her husband whose case is still pending.
Dr Farrugia, on her part, resigned from the Labour Party and parliamentary group in November, saying she represented those “who voted for the Labour movement hoping for a dignified, transparent and honest government”.
The outspoken MP said she did not wish to see the Labour government taking the route taken by the previous government so she han-ded in her letter of resignation soon after she voted with the Opposition on two amendments on the Environment Protection Act.