Prime Minister Joseph Muscat is urging anyone with information on any illegalities involving the Land Department to come forward.
Dr Muscat said during a phone-in on the Labour Party’s radio station that the government wanted to get to the bottom of the Valletta expropriation case and would offer protection to informants under the Whistleblower’s Act.
He came under fire in recent weeks after Times of Malta reported the government had paid €1.65 million in cash and land for half ownership of a property in Old Mint Street that a man had bought for a fraction of that amount just weeks earlier.
The National Audit Office is looking into the matter and the government has also ordered an interal inquiry. Dr Muscat yesterday reiterated that all investigation reports would be published. If wrongdoing was found, he would do everything in his power to stop the deal, he pledged.
Dr Muscat was adamant that he did not want the inquiries to stop with this case and urged all those with information on illegalities to come forward. “Whatever happened now or in the past should be looked into equally,” he said.
The government wants to get to the bottom of the Valletta expropriation case and will offer protection to informants under the Whistleblower’s Act
Meanwhile, planned changes in the procedures within the Land Department would be brought foward. Dr Muscat said he would not tolerate anyone making a profit off the government’s back and said a reform in the department was long overdue.
The Sunday Times of Malta yesterday reported that the government had asked the Attorney General what legal options were open should inquiries reveal fraud.
The government also said it would attempt to reclaim the public assets given to Mark Gafferena, the person with whom the deal was struck, should wrongdoing be proved.
Dr Muscat said he was pleased the Opposition was describing this move as “unprecedented”. This, he said, was a positive certificate and one he welcomed.
Changing the subject, he said the government had recently been presented with a report by the Pensions Working Group on the highly anticipated reform.
Dr Muscat said that while he was assessing recommendations, he had already made it clear he had two lines in the sand on the matter: he would not raise the retirement age and there would be no increase in social security contributions.
Opposition spies not tolerated
Joseph Muscat yesterday issued a stern warning to those he referred to as Opposition spies in government institutions following media reports of sensitive information being leaked.
He was referring to an item carried by the General Worker’s Union’s weekly, It-Torċa, claiming that a number of people in key positions within financial institutions had leaked information to Nationalist MP Tonio Fenech when he was shadow finance minister. (Dr Fenech is now the Opposition spokesman for foreign affairs).
Such people thought the government did not know what was going on and grew ‘overconfident’
The press report included images of e-mails exchanged between Dr Fenech and employees in the Malta Financial Services Authority, the Central Bank and the National Statistics Authority, reportedly containing sensitive information that was being passed to Dr Fenech even before it was handed to the government.
Dr Muscat said such people thought the government did not know what was going on and had grown “overconfident”, but they had been caught red-handed. The government would not be undermined by people interested only in “partisan matters” and these would have to assume responsibility, he added.