Adrian Delia asked for disciplinary action to be taken with urgency against outgoing PN leader Simon Busuttil and other members of the party leadership.
In a letter to the PN’s electoral commission sent two days before the first round of the election for the new leader last Saturday, he accused Dr Busuttil, deputy leader Beppe Fenech Adami and all the other members of the party’s administrative council of “working against” his candidacy.
The letter followed Dr Busuttil’s comment that he would have withdrawn from the leadership race had he been in Dr Delia’s place. This was after the PN’s ethics committee declared the candidate had not given a satisfactory explanation for his alleged Jersey bank account and the legality of the source of funds in a case that dates to the early 2000s. The committee was also unhappy with his failure to inform the PN about a new constitution of debt related to a Gozo property development.
The letter followed Dr Busuttil’s comment that he would have withdrawn had he been in Dr Delia’s place
In the light of the committee’s conclusions, the PN’s administrative council – saying that a party leader must necessarily be above suspicion in his honesty and integrity – called on Dr Delia to reconsider his candidature. Dr Delia ignored Dr Busuttil’s and the administrative council’s recommendations, dubbing them “the establishment”.
In his letter, he said Dr Busuttil’s remark following the meeting of the council was meant to sling mud at his candidacy. He objected to the clip of Dr Busuttil making the comment, saying it was abusive and should not have been posted on Facebook.
Dr Delia asked the electoral commission to verify whether the Facebook clip had been sponsored by PN funds and also asked it to publicly condemn Dr Busuttil’s comments.
Apart from seeking action against Dr Busuttil, he also asked the commission to take action against all the members of the administrative council for asking him to reconsider his position.
Dr Delia took umbrage at council president Karol Aquilina’s provision of what he said was “incorrect information” – that the council had taken a unanimous decision to ask him to reconsider his candidacy.
Dr Delia also accused Dr Fenech Adami, executive council president Ann Fenech and commission member Boris Xerri of working against him and asking PN members not to vote for him.
The Sunday Times of Malta is informed that the electoral commission has taken note of Dr Delia’s letter but found no reason to take any action on it.
Dr Delia won a relative majority of votes last week and will compete for the PN’s top post against former general secretary Chris Said in the second round after the other contestants, Alex Perici Calascione and Frank Portelli, were eliminated.
After last week’s success, Dr Delia vowed to start wor-king to unite the party.
ivan.camilleri@timesofmalta.com