PL deputy leader Toni Abela is a victim of a coordinated attack by the Nationalist Party which held on to a recording it had for two years for partisan reasons, Labour leader Joseph Muscat said this afternoon.

Replying to journalists after meeting farmers at Manikata, Dr Muscat insisted that the case was one of defamation and a political attack by the PN.

The Nationalist Party and the Prime Minister held on to the recordings they had only to publish them when they could inflict the most damage but this strategy was backfiring.

The PN was using negative politics but the people were understanding that such attacks did not make sense.

Dr Muscat said that Dr Abela was responsible for all PL properties and had the mandate to take decisions about these properties. He had taken the decision mentioned in the recordings in this context.