Simon Busuttil yesterday filed the fifth libel suit in two days over allegations he attempted blackmail during a meeting with the Gaffarena family before the last election.
The libel suit was filed against the General Workers’ Union’s daily L-Orizzont over an article carried yesterday in which it reproduced a sworn declaration by Joe Gaffarena claiming that the Opposition leader tried to blackmail him.
Dr Busuttil denied the allegation, first reproduced on Sunday in It-Torċa and taken up by the Labour Party’s One TV and radio. On Monday, he filed four libel suits, insisting the allegations were completely untrue.
The issue revolves around a meeting that took place before the 2013 election and which Mr Gaffarena claimed was organised by Nationalist MP Joe Cassar. Dr Cassar yesterday released a statement denying this, adding the truth would come out in the libel suits filed by the PN leader.
Mr Gaffarena claimed in the affidavit reproduced by the GWU daily that, during the meeting about five months before the election, Dr Busuttil allegedly said the Gaffarenas knew what they had to do to get the planning permit for their illegal petrol station in Qormi.
The truth will come out in the libel suits
Mr Gaffarena said the permit would have been issued had he given the Nationalist Party documentation about former PN Cabinet minister John Dalli and the Daewoo case, a scandal that goes back to the late 1990s, when Mr Dalli acted as consultant to the Maltese franchise.
Mr Gaffarena was part-owner of Daewoo Malta before selling his share.
Dr Busuttil yesterday blamed Planning Parliamentary Secretary Michael Falzon for the renewed attack on him, accusing him of “using” the Gaffarena family as “his shield”.
The reference was to the scandal that erupted in June when The Sunday Times of Malta reported that Marco Gaffarena (Joe Gaffarena’s son) benefited from €1.6 million in cash and land after the government expropriated half a property he owned in Valletta.
Reacting to the developments, the Labour Party said that if Dr Busuttil had nothing to hide he should have declared forthwith that he had met the Gaffarenas.