Labour leader Joseph Muscat has denied asking Toni Abela to resign over his failure to inform the police about an alleged case of cocaine trafficking at the Safi Party Club.
Asked about rumours that his deputy leader had rejected his call to resign, Dr Muscat said this was not speculation but completely untrue.
He was speaking to the media following a visit to SR Technics in Safi, which underlined its commitment to Malta.
He confirmed he had informed Dr Abela of the contents of an interview to The Sunday Times beforehand. In the interview published last Sunday, the Labour leader said they both had committed a mistake for failing to involve the police in an investigation.
In his interview, Dr Muscat insisted he never lied to journalists when he said he had no knowledge about the case because there was confusion about whether they were talking of the Attard or Safi clubs.
Although he defended Dr Abela’s actions as “genuine”, Dr Muscat said: “If he was a general election candidate he would have had to withdraw his candidature.”
Fielding questions on the European Commission’s action against Malta’s decision to charge different bus fares for residents and non-residents, Dr Muscat said the responsibility of this was the Government’s.
“Both I and even (PN deputy leader) Simon Busuttil had warned there might be problems with European Union. (Transport Minister Austin) Gatt is confirming that the Government has not yet sent Malta’s position on the matter. Dr Gatt and his consultants, especially Manuel Delia, have to shoulder responsibility for this,” he said.
He was also asked on Labour’s stand on the controversial push-back policy once used by Italy and Libya, through which irregular migrants were sent to the country they came from.
Dr Muscat clarified he was only in favour of such a policy if the country where the migrants were being taken to was a safe port.
“Victims of human trafficking need to be treated humanely but we will be very firm with Brussels because, for example, the immigration pact did not result in any positive and concrete developments for Malta.”
Meanwhile, during his meeting with the management of SR Technics, Dr Muscat expressed Labour’s commitment to consolidating the aviation sector.