The Nationalist and Labour parties yesterday traded similar charges over what has emerged from the testimony of pardoned oil trader George Farrugia, each accusing the other of evading questions of responsibility.

The PN said Home Affairs Minister Manuel Mallia was caught up in his own lie about the oil procure-ment scandal.

The party published comments made by Dr Mallia during the electoral campaign, in which he claimed he did not know about bribery in oil procurement before reading about it in the newspapers.

However, on Monday, when testifying before the Public Accounts Committee, Mr Farrugia said Dr Mallia had known about it since 2010 in his capacity as a lawyer at the time.

The PN said Dr Mallia even threatened to report Mr Farrugia unless he reached a settlement with his brothers, who were shareholders in John’s Garage and whom Dr Mallia was representing.

The people had a right to ask questions and know where their money had gone

Dr Mallia has said he was bound by professional secrecy. But the PN said he was using this to hide behind because Mr Farrugia (who committed the bribery) was not his client.

The PN insisted that the Prime Minister and Dr Mallia should shoulder their political responsibilities.

Meanwhile, on another aspect of Mr Farrugia’s testimony, the Labour Party said PN leader Simon Busuttil was trying to shift responsibility when he left it up to former minister Austin Gatt to answer questions on the €2,000 campaign donation made by Mr Farrugia.

Dr Gatt has claimed he did not know about the donation but the Labour Party said he and Dr Busuttil were forgetting how closely they had worked to-gether during the elec-toral campaign.

This was the behaviour of children which could not continue any longer, the PL said.

The people had a right to ask questions and know where their money had gone.