Parliamentary Secretary Michael Falzon. Photo: Darrin Zammit Lupi

The Prime Minister has no other option but to sack Parliamentary Secretary Michael Falzon over the Gaffarena scandal, the PN insisted yesterday.

As Times of Malta continued to publish more revelations about the debacle, PN shadow Minister Jason Azzopardi said the latest facts admitted by Mr Falzon made his position “politically untenable”.

Last Sunday, in an interview with Malta Today, Dr Falzon admitted he was a hunting buddy of Mark Gaffarena and had gone on trips with him to Argentina; that he had met him at his office at Castille and discussed the expropriation case; and that Mr Gaffarena was accompanied to the Land Department by a member of Mr Falzon’s private secretariat.

Dr Azzopardi said that following these admissions, it was a surprise that Dr Falzon was still in government. From a political point of view, it was crystal clear that Dr Falzon should resign.

“If he does not, then the Prime Minister has no other option but to sack him. Political responsibility is not a buzzword and Dr Muscat has to act,” he insisted.

Political responsibility is not a buzzword. Dr Muscat has to act

Dr Azzopardi claimed that if Dr Muscat did not have the power to sack Dr Falzon, then the scandal was even bigger than it seemed, as it meant Dr Muscat was personally involved in it.

He highlighted the fact that Dr Muscat was the first ever Maltese prime minister to be directly responsible for the Land Department, adding that this may be no coincidence.

Citing the Café Premier case, he said that all the scandals that had unfolded fell under the Prime Minister’s portfolio.

PN Land spokesman Ryan Callus referred to more revelations published yesterday by Times of Malta, which stated that just three days after Mark Gaffarena offered to sell the State a quarter of a Valletta property he did not yet own, the government sent its architects to assess land he would receive in compensation.

These revelations were uncovering a systematic and orchestrated scheme in which the government made some people rich overnight through government property.

“Who is really behind all this?” Mr Callus asked.

He said the Prime Minster had the duty to stop all this and to give assurances to the public that these “methods that stink of corruption” were stopped and whoever was responsible would be brought to justice.

Meanwhile, the Malta Developers Association yesterday stepped into the controversy, condemning the way the Land Department had dealt with the Gaffarena expropriation vis-a-vis other citizens who had been waiting for compensation for years.

The MDA said the case showed the need for a thorough reform of the Land Department and its way of conducting business.

Mr Gaffarena is suspected of benefiting from insider information in his dealings with the government over the sale of parts of a property in Old Mint Street, Valletta, netting himself a huge profit from its expropriation.