Updated 2.55pm - PL laughs off Bezzina libel threat

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat today pointed at a case of “potential fraud” by Nationalist Party MP Toni Bezzina.

Speaking during an interview on ONE Radio, Dr Muscat said a story on Labour newspaper Kullħadd indicated that MP Toni Bezzina had fraudulently submitted plans containing an inexistent room in order to facilitate development on ODZ land.

Mr Bezzina’s plans to build a villa on ODZ land were revealed last week.

The PN MP, who was one of the authors of a PN policy document decrying ODZ developments, withdrew the plans following the revelation.

Cries for Mr Bezzina’s resignation fell on deaf ears with Opposition leader Simon Busuttil defending the MP by saying no laws had been broken.

Dr Muscat said that the Opposition leader was leading a party that wanted to be in government yet was not fit to govern.

He said Dr Busuttil’s only chance was to try and provoke people and hope for a punch up.

“The strategy is clear. The Opposition leader wants to drag me down to his level,” Dr Muscat said.

The Prime Minister again admitted that not reacting to Dr Busuttil’s “lies” on the ownership of the third Panama company Egrant had been a mistake.

Dr Muscat speaking on One radio this morning.

He said the constant mudslinging from the Opposition ranks was putting people off entering politics.

On the upcoming election, the Prime Minister warned that a PN government would lead to the economy grinding to a halt, higher taxes, mediocre economic growth and less employment.

Everyone recognised the economic progress made under the current government, Dr Muscat said.

He questioned how Dr Busuttil could dispute that the government had lowered energy tariffs.

Dr Muscat said the Opposition leader’s “scene” in Parliament which saw his symbolically tearing up the power station contracts sent out a dangerous message to investors.

“If word spreads that Malta is a country that does not honour its commitments, workers will be the first to suffer. There will be less investments and jobs will be lost. It is a vicious circle.

The country’s reputation should come first. You should not toy with it. It is a basic principle. If someone has not understood this then they are not ready to be prime minister,” Dr Muscat said.

Dr Muscat said the government had saved Enemalta from the brink of bankruptcy while lowering energy tariffs. The PN had planned to raise these same tariffs after the 2013 general election, he said.

Turning to the recent spate of bombings, Dr Muscat reassured that he had spoken to the police and given them even more resources to combat these types of crimes.

Justice Minister Owen Bonnici had been tasked with looking at laws in other countries to see if there was a vacuum in Malta when it came to legislation against organised crime.

'Lies and manipulated photos' - Toni Bezzina

In a statement issued by the PN, Mr Bezzina said that he would be filing libel proceedings following the Prime Minister's claims. Labour Party media had manipulated photos to hide the room referred to in his planning permit application.

He said Labour Party media had manipulated photos to hide the room referred to in his planning permit application.

"The part of the room... is clearly visible in aerial photos used by the Planning Authority" Mr Bezzina said, in a statement which included a 1967 Mepa photo (below). 

He accused PL media of trickery, saying "this manipulation is even worse than when they intentionally did not show the existing buildings on either side of the proposed structure I had applied for." 

Mr Bezzina said that his planning application was allowed by law and that he had decided to withdraw it "on point of principle" after speaking with Opposition Leader Simon Busuttil. 

Instead of addressing Malta's institutional corruption, he added, the Prime Minister was now "lying about me". 

The aerial photo provided with Mr Bezzina's statement.

The PL reacted to Mr Bezzina's threat to file a libel suit with nonchalance, saying that the photo he had released confirmed the allegations first published in Kulħadd. 

"If Bezzina is claiming that a wall is a kind of room, then he is believing his own lies," the party said. 

It shrugged off his libel threat, saying Mr Bezzina had also filed - and lost - a similar suit last year after he was accused of having used government workers to carry out works at a PN band club.