Updated 1.38pm - PL reaction
Central Bank deputy governor Alfred Mifsud should step aside until allegations made against him have been cleared, Opposition Leader Simon Busuttil said today.
Speaking on Radio 101, Dr Busuttil said that Prime Minister Joseph Muscat ought to have withdrawn Mr Mifsud's name as prospective Central Bank governor, given the serious nature of the allegations.
But with the Prime Minister apparently intent on steamrolling ahead, Dr Busuttil said, the Central Bank's deputy governor should have done the decent thing and suspended himself.
"Are these people willing to wipe their feet on Malta's reputation?" the Nationalist Party leader asked. "Our message to the Prime Minister is clear - stop it."
Mr Mifsud is touted to assume the Central Bank governorship on July 1. Blogger Daphne Caruana Galizia has published allegations that he took bribes running into six figures when he was Mid-Med Bank chairman in the late nineties. The Finance Ministry has said an investigation is underway.
Dr Busuttil said that the allegations tarnished Malta's image at a European level, and argued that the PN felt the hurt "twice over" because it had worked hard to build up Malta's reputation over the years.
Malta's financial services sector was being further damaged by Education Minister Evarist Bartolo's strident criticism of MFSA chairman Joe Bannister, Dr Busuttil said.
"If the government wants to remove [Prof. Bannister], do so. But to have a minister publicly criticise someone nominated by their own government does the sector harm," he said.
The PN leader also touched upon the deal to hand three hospitals over to a private investor on a 30-year contract.
The deal was "extremely dubious", Dr Busuttil said, because it had been signed when Minister without Portfolio Konrad Mizzi was still Health Minister. There were also allegations that the Prime Minister's chief of staff had met with the investor before the call for proposals was made, he said.
“There’s a smell of corruption about this, but I guess this government has a blocked nose," Dr Busuttil said.
'He's trying to frighten off investors' - PL
In a reaction, the Labour Party said that Dr Busuttil's criticism of a hospital privatisation deal was intended to scare off investors.
The deal would ensure high-quality healthcare without taxpayers having to fork out a cent, the PL said.
Dr Busuttil's calls for the government to do what the previous PN administration had done in the health sector meant he "clearly doesn't know what Maltese and Gozitan people think," the party said.