As Prime Minister Joseph Muscat yesterday pledged to deal with transparency ‘head on”, Opposition leader Simon Busuttil spoke of a “mafia in Castille”.

The government would be addressing the issue of transparency “head-on”, with the same vigour it had used to tackle problems like out of stock medication and poor management of State entities, Dr Muscat told party supporters in Gżira.

Speaking in Sannat, Dr Busuttil said the sort of government meddling in the Gaffarena expropriation deal “has shown the extent of the mafia going on in Castille and it is worrying”.

The findings of the National Audit Office on the deal involving the Land Department and businessman Mark Gaffarena on part of a property in Valletta took centre stage.

Dr Muscat made no mention of the scandal directly but thanked both Michael Falzon, who resigned as planning parliamentary secretary in the wake of the report, and former Cabinet minister Manuel Mallia who had been fired following an incident involving his driver. He said Dr Busuttil could only wish he had people like them in his party.

Dr Busuttil noted that court proceedings initiated by the government to recover the land transferred to Mr Gaffarena were “designed to be lost”. It was ironic, he said, that the court case was not only against Mr Gaffarena but also against the Land Department, which fell under the Prime Minister’s responsibility.

“This is a Joseph Muscat vs Joseph Muscat court case,” Dr Busuttil said.