Opposition leader Simon Busuttil praised his deputy Mario de Marco today for having renounced his position as part of the dp Group (formerly the Sea Bank group’s) legal team for the mega development at St George's Bay.

However Prime Minister Joseph Muscat asked when Dr Busuttil actually learnt of Dr de Marco's conflict of interest, and why he had not acted earlier. 

In a speech at the PN's Marsa club, Dr Busuttil said that as soon as it emerged that Dr de Marco had a “clear conflict”, the two agreed that the deputy leader would no longer be involved in the project.

“Whenever there is any form of conflict of interest, a politician must choose and Dr de Marco did just that and he chose the PN,” the Opposition leader said.

Politicians having such conflicts was a common occurrence, Dr Busuttil said, yet he insisted that they should always make a choice between their interests and politics.

“I expect that whenever someone from the Labour Party is in the same situation, they take a similar decision and choose.

READ: De Marco defends his firm’s involvement in controversial ITS contract

“While Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has done nothing about Keith Schembri and Konrad Mizzi a year after the Panama Papers scandal broke, the PN took action less than 24 hours later and is leading by example,” he said.

Dr de Marco’s legal firm – De Marco and Associates was involved in the negotiations leading to the signing of a contract between the dp Group (Seabank) and the government leading to the transfer of the former  ITS side to the Seabank group for a mixed use development including a Hard Rock hotel. There will be two residential towers with 209 luxury apartments. The deal has been heavily criticised by the PN.

Dr Busuttil has criticised the deal, saying that the 24,000 square metre site in St Julian’s and Pembroke was given to the group on the cheap. The deal, he has insisted, was never exposed to parliamentary scrutiny.

This morning, Dr Busuttil again criticised the government’s decision to hand over the land for €15 million, adding that the Opposition would be taking the matter further and asking the Auditor General to investigate the deal.

Signed earlier this month, the government said that the deal - to hand over for 99 years the prime site in Malta’s golden mile - would mean that the developers would be paying some €60 million.

However, according to the contract published by the government, the Sea Bank owners would only be paying a premium of €15 million, staggered over a number of years.

The deal, under which the land was supposed to be used for touristic and leisure purposes, includes the construction of two residential towers with 209 luxury apartments to be put on sale.

“In the coming days, the Opposition will be asking the Auditor General to investigate this case, especially in light of the ridiculous price for the transfer of land and why this was not brought up in Parliament,” Dr Busuttil said.

He insisted that a PN government would do things in a different way, reiterating that the party would not be controlled by anyone with personal interests.

“Neither the PN or myself are not for sale, we will not be bought and we are in nobody’s pockets,” Dr Busuttil repeated. 

JOSEPH MUSCAT ASKS IF THE PN CONSIDERS DE MARCO AS CORRUPT

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat also referred to the case when speaking in Senglea this morning,

He asked when Dr Busuttil learnt of Dr de Marco's conflict of interest. 
Yesterday? If not why did he not stop him earlier?

And if, as the PN claimed, there was corruption in this contract, did he consider Dr de Marco as corrupt?

Would Dr Busuttil guarantee other PN MPs were not involved in this and other deals as well? Would he take action against them too?

Dr Muscat said the government had no problem with the Auditor General being asked to investigate the Seabank contract.

DP GROUP WELCOMES REFERENCE OF CONTRACT TO AUDITOR-GENERAL

The db Group (formerly Seabank Group) in a statement said it welcomed the suggestion by Dr Busuttil to have the contract it signed with government over the ITS site in St George's Bay, scrutinised by the Auditor General.

"No one in this country is more eager for the truth to win out on this matter than our Group.

"The reason is obvious to those who have the decency to hear. For the first time in history, the price of the public land in question was not determined by the parties to the deal but by Deloitte, an auditing firm of international repute. And we, as a group, abided by its decision," dp said.