The Speaker, Anġlu Farrugia, last night presided over a few heated minutes in the House after he found Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi prima facie guilty of breach of privilege.
The ruling was over Dr Mizzi’s remark on Monday that Opposition energy spokesman George Pullicino had been the subject of several warnings he had received from businessmen.
He made the claim after he had accused Mr Pullicino of entering into an unfavourable energy purchase agreement with a private company.
Mr Pullicino denied any wrongdoing, saying he was cleaner than all the government MPs put together.
Dr Farrugia said yesterday that he was not satisfied with the documents presented by Dr Mizzi in supposed corroboration of his remarks. He referred the case to the House Privileges Committee.
The House erupted after Dr Mizzi accepted the ruling but sought to make further comments. The Speaker cut him short.
Foreign Minister George Vella, who said he had been on government duties and this was therefore his first opportunity to speak about the matter, questioned whether the chair could decide on its own initiative that there had been a breach of privilege.
He requested a ruling on whether Mr Pullicino could draw comparisons between his own political cleanliness and that of the Labour group.
Mr Speaker gave Mr Pullicino the opportunity to qualify his remarks or withdraw the comparison. Mr Pullicino did the latter, saying he was sticking to his own political cleanliness. But if his detractors continued to hide behind their parliamentary immunity, he would take all possible steps to defend his credibility even outside the House.
On his part, Dr Mizzi was adamant he would not withdraw what he had said about Mr Pullicino.
Mr Pullicino then said that on Tuesday, as he was leaving the Parliament building, he was accosted by a One TV journalist, who stepped outside of the designated media area and blocked his path. He asked the Speaker to investigate.
Later, during the same sitting, Jason Azzopardi (PN) asked the Speaker to investigate whether Home Affairs Minister Manuel Mallia had intentionally misled the House through “contradictory replies” given to two questions on the same subject matter.
Dr Mallia denied the allegation. He said Dr Azzopardi seemed to be referring to replies given about different army brigadiers and not about the same official. Dr Mallia said he was also referring to different army courses.
He said he would review the PQs being referred to by Dr Azzopardi and reply during the next sitting.
Government Whip Carmelo Abela also asked Mr Speaker to investigate a “false” report which appeared on the Media Link website maltarightnow.com claiming he was being paid a €30,000 salary, in addition to his €28,000 parliamentary honorarium, for his role as government spokesman, a position he was given during the last Cabinet reshuffle.