In the impeachment case of Mr Justice Lino Farrugia Sacco, the government had opted for political friendship over justice because the judge’s son was a PL candidate, Opposition leader Simon Busuttil said this morning.
Closing the party’s general council during which the party updated its statute, Dr Busuttil said that the government’s decision to remark on the impeachment process from scratch meant that the judge would not be removed before his retirement in August.
Dr Busuttil said that when the motion was moved in the previous legislature, the Prime Minister, then Opposition leader, had said he would act in line of the Commission for the Administration of Justice’s decision.
The commission submitted its report a few days ago finding the judge prima facie guilty of incorrect behaviour.
However, the Prime Minister presented a motion for the process, which lasted a year, to be reembarked upon.
This, Dr Busuttil said, showed that the law did not exist for people within the inner circle.
The Opposition leader also referred to a public consultation meeting held this week on the new power station.
He said that the meeting heard for the first time about the permanent presence of a gas storage tanker in Marsaxlokk Bay.
Experts, he said, were unable to answer the questions raised by the people attending the meeting and said that the ship could not be set up outside harbour because the expense would be higher and the project would take longer to implement.
Did this mean that the government preferred to place a risk in the middle of Marsaxlokk Bay, choosing political interest over the people’s health because of a pre-election promise to resign should the new power station not be completed within two years?
Dr Busuttil also spoke about the parliamentary hearing at the Privileges Committee to consider a breach of privilege complaint following his cliam that there was political interference in the John Dalli case.
The Opposition leader said he continued to insist that there was political interference in the case, he believed so, the people believed so and so did the European Union.
“I will not be afraid of threats. You can throw me in prison but I will not be intimidated and will continue to insist on what I believe,” Dr Busuttil said.
Dr Busuttil also referred to Henley and Partners’ defence of the Maltese citizenship scheme and its attack on the opposition.
This, he said, was because Henley would be making €200 million out of the scheme. He warned that the PN’s would be watching on the company like a hawk and would not allow this or any other company to finance any political party.
He referred to an interview with the Prime Minister in today’s The Sunday Times of Malta in which Dr Muscat said that the government had offered residency but the Opposition refused it.
This, Dr Busuttil said, was a blatant lie so much so that Home Affairs Minister Manuel Mallia had said that if even one day of residency was introduced into the scheme, he would resign from Parliament.
The scheme was now to have 12 months and not one days of residency and he was now waiting for Dr Mallia to resign.
Dr Muscat also told The Sunday Times of Malta that he did not concede on the residency component earlier as a ‘negotiating tactic’.
Did this mean that the Prime Minister allowed the country to go through such humiliation as a negotiating tactic? Was he playing Russian roulette with Malta? He had to be really irresponsible to put country through such controversy for a negotiating tactic, Dr Busuttil said.
He pointed out that the new legal notice reflecting the agreement with the EU had not yet been published and the PN would only state its position on it once it was.
“We will continue to defend our principles… The PN will also ensure that what was agreed upon with the EU is followed. We will not allow the government to apply the law in a different way to how it was published.”
Dr Busuttil also spoke on the changes the council approved to the party’s statute.
These changes will see members voting for the election of the party’s leadership, the creation of new structure within the party for different sectors of society, the introduction of female quotas and the setting up of a number of colleges.