(Adds PL statement)

The Opposition today again called for the Prime Minister’s resignation over the Café Premier deal and described as a scandal "the lies" being said to cover his involvement.

Nationalist Party Deputy Leader Beppe Fenech Adami listed the Prime Minister’s involvement in negotiations, quoting meetings and correspondence detailed in the report by the National Audit Office.

The report by the NAO, on the €4.2 million deal made to buy back the government’s public lease of the Valletta property soon after the Labour Party was voted into power, revealed various shortcomings in the deal that “detract from the prudence expected” when deciding to undertake disbursements of such magnitude.

Times of Malta today revealed the Prime Minister admitted meeting Café Premier director Mario Camilleri before the 2013 General Election, adding he has always met and still meets entrepreneurs on a regular basis. He insisted negotiations on the deal only started after he became Prime Minister.

This was a lie, according to Dr Beppe Fenech Adami who pointed out the establishment closed its doors the day after the election. A few days later, Dr Muscat again met the director.

Moreover, he personally involved himself in negotiations for the debt of a private company to be paid by taxpayers’ money and negotiated the sum of €4.2 million. An email published in the report also showed he ordered this payment to be made.

“By his own yardstick set before the election the Prime Minister should resign,” PN deputy leader Beppe Fenech Adami said.

Dr Muscat told Times of Malta he was not “in any form or manner involved in negotiations”, saying he passed the matter on to the advisors as well as the civil service to conduct negotiations.

Yet, Opposition spokesman Ryan Callus said Dr Muscat had acted against all established procedures as was confirmed by the auditor general.

The report noted the “government’s reluctance to involve the Government Property Division (known as Land Department) early in negotiations”. As a result the Auditor General concluded poor governance and a lack of transparency marked these negotiations.

Although the OPM pointed out the GPD was involved at valuation stage, it also said the government has taken note of the shortfall raised by the NAO. There was no further mention of any intention to address issues related to accountability.

The OPM said only an internal working group was reviewing the processes used in this case with the assistance of the management efficiency unit and the internal audit investigations department.

“It will come up with specific proposals to make sure similar cases are dealt with in a more transparent manner so as to avoid similar controversies which clearly erode public perception in such institutions,” the OPM said.

This was not enough, the Opposition said, adding it was ridiculous for government to be assessing whether the Prime Minister should get involved in negotiations to pay off a private company’s debt with taxpayers’ money.

PN'S ALLEGATIONS MADE UP - PL

In a statement, the Labour Party said Simon Busuttil’s allegations on the case were completely made up for partisan reasons. Reality was that no meeting on the cafe to discuss the Cafe Premier had been held before the election.

The PL said the case was investigated by the police and they established that nothing illegal had taken place. The Auditor General, who had access to all documents on the case, also did not find any illicit behaviour.

The Labour government, the PL said, had not been afraid of taking decisions to get back from the owners €1 million left pending by the previous administration for the site to be returned to be government to be used for public and productive aims.

On the contrary, only days before the last election, the Nationalist Party gave the owner of land at Fekruna 4,000 cubic metres of land worth €4.3 million as compensation. This was done against all procedures and without any request from any department.

The party had also paid the owners of kiosks in Valetta thousands of euros to buy back their permit.

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