The Labour Party said this afternoon that any criticism of the way it had allowed former police inspector David Gatt to become a delegate after he was dismissed from the police force, also applied to the Minister of Justice who granted Dr Gatt his warrant to practice as a lawyer, also after he was dismissed.
The PL was reacting to an earlier statement by the PN.
The Nationalist Party said that the PL should never have accepted former Inspector David Gatt as a delegate after he sought refuge within it following his dismissal from the police force.
The PN said that the former inspector, who later also became a lawyer, had found refuge in the Labour Party thanks to the reforms piloted by Joseph Muscat.
The reforms provided for the appointment of special delegates who were not previously active in the Labour Party. Dr Gatt was special delegate of the eighth district.
The Labour Party had no problem offering shelter to David Gatt, in the same way as it had no problem giving shelter to former Sliema Mayor Nikki Dimech, the PN said.
Mr Dimech is undergoing court proceedings for alleged bribery.
In Mr Dimech's case, Dr Muscat had said that the Labour media should allow him space and he was then allowed to participate in Labour media programmes, the PN observed. Now Dr Muscat was saying that the PL had expelled Dr Gatt, 48 hours after his court arraignment. A serious politician would not have accepted Dr Gatt in the first place, the PN said. It accused Dr Muscat of political opportunism.
PL REACTION
The Labour Party said the PN was trying to deflect public attention from the embarrassment caused to it over the way how ministers had chosen to pay themselves twice for the same work.
It pointed out that after he was dismissed from the police force, David Gatt was granted a warrant to practice as a lawyer. The same arguments used by the PN over the fact that he was a PL delegate therefore also applied to the fact that the Justice Minister had handed him his warrant. The PN was therefore accusing the Minister of Justice of not being serious, or of granting a warrant to somebody who did not deserve it.
The PL said that it was Lawrence Gonzi who was showing political opportunism in the way a €600 a week pay rise had been granted to the members of the Cabinet.