Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has remained silent on the Gaffarena expropriation scandal in the hope that people will forget, Nationalist Party deputy leader Beppe Fenech Adami said yesterday.

Addressing a press conference, Dr Fenech Adami said Dr Muscat had a duty to answer questions about the controversial expropriation of a Valletta property owned by businessman Mark Gaffarena.

“Although there are questions on people’s mind, the Prime Minister has not spoken out. Instead he remains silent, probably hoping that once the next scandal breaks, everyone will move on and forget about this one,” Dr Fenech Adami said.

He added the expropriation had been described by the Attorney General as beingthe result of “collusion”, which cast a shadow onthe government that could not be ignored.

Dr Fenech Adami reiterated three questions already and repeatedly put to Dr Muscat by Opposition leader Simon Busuttil.

He added the expropriation had been described by the Attorney General as being the result of ‘collusion’

The most pivotal: when did Dr Muscat find out about the expropriation?

Dr Fenech Adami said the scandal emerged eight months ago, yet Dr Muscat would not say whether he had known about this before it was revealed by The Sunday Times of Malta.

“If he did know about this before, when did he first find out? Did he take action? The public deserves to know,” Dr Fenech Adami said.

He also asked whether the police were investigating the case at Castille as planning and lands fell under Dr Muscat’s political responsibility.

Finally, Dr Fenech Adami asked who Mr Gaffarena paid for the deal to go ahead. He said Mr Gaffarena had received some €3.5 million in cash and land and it was not clear why.

Dr Muscat, he said, needed to answer these questions in the interest of transparency.

The scandal, he added, confirmed the present government was the most corrupt in Malta’s political history, trapped in a web of corruption of its own making.