Members of the public wanting to take part in dialogue meetings with government minsters and parliamentary secretaries have had their questions vetted beforehand and told not to raise certain issues.

This happened to two businessmen who had booked seats for Thursday’s session with planning parliamentary secretary Michael Falzon, who is embroiled in a controversy over the expropriation of a Valletta property.

Open or not? Part of the backdrop used during dialogue sessions. Photo: Darrin Zammit Lupi

The two businessmen were told by an official from the OPM not to ask questions about the Land Department, which falls within Mr Falzon’s portfolio.

“I had booked a seat to attend the session with Dr Falzon. In the afternoon, I was contacted by a government official from the OPM telling me clearly not to ask questions about the Land Department,” a 45-year old developer, who wished to remain anonymous, said.

Another participant who attended on Thursday evening recounted the same “odd” phone call. “When I booked, I told them that I wanted to ask about an issue I had with the Land Department. On Thursday, a few hours before the meeting, I received a call from an official telling me that issues on Mepa and the Land Department were out of bounds,” the 56-year old businessmen from Mellieħa said.

Asked for comment, the Prime Minister’s spokesman said the newspaper’s information was incorrect.

“No questions were stopped by any OPM official and the public was free to ask any question as can be seen by the number of comments which were critical of government policy or decisions.”

He said persons were asked the nature of their query to make sure it was directed to the right ministry.

Read more in Times of Malta.