Prime Minister Joseph Muscat yesterday evening asked for “patience” until the inquiry into the Gżira shooting is concluded, as the Opposition claimed new evidence in the case suggests he too colluded in the cover-up.
“If (Simon) Busuttil chose not to appoint a person to lead the (independent judicial) inquiry, now he should have the patience as I have, till Monday, when we will know all the facts and not only what Dr Busuttil wants to choose. I will then draw the necessary political conclusions on the basis of the inquiry’s findings,” Dr Muscat said.
The Prime Minister was reacting to a call made yesterday by Opposition leader Simon Busuttil to publish his call logs of the night of the incident, November 19, to prove that he was not part of the attempt to cover up the shooting. On Friday PN media published transcripts of telephone conversations between the main protagonists in the saga, and in which it was established that the shots fired by Home Affairs Minister driver Paul Sheehan on the night of November 19 were directed at the car of British national Stephen Morrison Smith – and not in the air as claimed in the statement issued by the government in the immediate aftermath of the incident.
Dr Busuttil used the revelation to reiterate his call for Dr Mallia to be sacked but he also placed the storm onto Dr Muscat’s doorstep, insisting that the transcripts show the head of government communications, Kurt Farrugia, was also privy to this information.
“It is obvious that Kurt Farrugia, who is so close to the Prime Minister, would have informed him about the whole story… the Prime Minister should publish his call logs,” Dr Busuttil said.
Asked yesterday about Mr Farrugia’s position, Dr Muscat said he could not take the Opposition’s claims “seriously” until it published the transcripts in their entirety rather than quote from them selectively.
“I haven’t heard the recordings, I do not have access to them and I will not be requesting access to them. I will leave that to the inquiry. But if the Opposition wants to be taken seriously, it should publish all the information,” he said.
Asked whether he would furnish his call logs, Dr Muscat again referred to the independent inquiry.
“The inquiring judges have the right to ask all the information related to this case. This is why I wanted an independent inquiry because I wanted it to establish the whole truth,” he said, reiterating points he made in an interview with The Sunday Times of Malta, which is being published today (pages 10-11).
The inquiring judges, Alberto Magro as chairman, J.D. Camilleri and Philip Sciberras, have until Monday to conclude the probe. They were tasked with looking into claims that there had been attempt to cover up the incident after it became clear that the original government statement claiming Mr Sheehan had fired warnings shots was incorrect.
Speculation mounted yesterday that Dr Mallia would be sacked after the Labour Party parliamentary group convened for an unscheduled meeting at Auberge de Castille.
However, Labour sources said that although the Opposition’s vote of no confidence in Dr Mallia was discussed, no decision had been taken on his political future.