Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said this morning that Opposition leader Simon Busuttil was not credible in his explanations about abuses involving former Gozo minister Giovanna Debono and her husband.

'Unless he comes clean, he will be showing that he is unable to act, not because he wants to protect his former ministers, but because he is protecting himself," Dr Muscat told a One News interviewer.

Dr Muscat said the allegations made against the former minister's husband amounted to a scandal and a racket. Mr Debono, a government employee had been using taxpayers' money to serve people in order to win their vote, he said. That included the building of garages and a two-storey place.

PN General Secretary Chris Said had been given a list which spoke of 'works for votes' and yet he had claimed this did not mean that abuses had been made. What standards were these? Dr Muscat asked.

Opposition leader Simon Busuttil had finally admitted he had met the contractor who made the claims, but had said they had not discussed these abuses. So what had they discussed, the weather? Dr Muscat asked.

Was Dr Busuttil alone or did he have witnesses?

This case was not only a criminal act but a political case which showed the benefits of the whistleblower act.

Dr Busuttil was not being credible and needed to come clean. Did he agree with Dr Said that these 'works for votes' did not constitute abuse?

In other comments, Dr Muscat said one reason why people should vote Labour was the way the government had in two years wiped out the increase in unemployment created in the previous five years.

The government, he said, was creating the right conditions to promote investment and hence employment, including the reduction in energy and water tariffs. The tariffs, he said, won't rise during the life of this government. Businesses were feeling the improvement, he said, and they should invest more and employ more. 

This country had also narrowed the deficit and was reducing the debt. A turnaround had been achieved. A surplus was achieved in the past five months, but more remained to be done. The debt used to rise by €100m per month under the PN, it was now going down by €45m per month. This meant taxes could be kept in check, although more needed to be done in this area too, particularly for middle income earners.

The situation was very different from the pre-election claim that 'Labour won't work," Dr Muscat said.

The prime minister laid emphasis on the work being done for residents of the south, including the dismantling of Marsa power station, the conversion of Delimara power station to gas, infrastructural projects such as new Paola Square and the Schreiber project, a study on Wied Garnaw and compensation for the people of Marsaxlokk and Birzebbuga for the power station and the freeport.

Dr Muscat said the interconnector project had been badly planned by the former government, causing delays as it was reviewed. The interconnector was now working and would soon be regularly supplying the grid. (The interconnector is expected to be inaugurated on Thursday jointly by Dr Muscat and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi).

Dr Muscat said the government would then seek to exploit the commercial and social value of the Marsa power station site.

PN: IT IS MUSCAT WHO IS NOT CREDIBLE

In a reaction, the Nationalist Party said Dr Muscat was not credible when he attacked others (over the Gozo allegations) when he and Gozo Minister Anton Refalo had known about the allegations early, but done nothing about them.

Dr Muscat was also not credible in attacking others when he had personally intervened and negotiated the sum of €4.2m in taxpayers' money given to the owners of Cafe' Premier.

He had also defended Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi after he interfered in oil hedging with an Azeri company, leading to hedging losses of €14 million and high prices at the pump.

It was also Dr Muscat who had given a salary of €58,000 to Cyrus Engerer after he was handed a suspended jail term.

The PN reiterated that Simon Busuttil in his meeting with the contractor making the allegations about Gozo had not discussed the alleged abuses.