Labour leader Alfred Sant yesterday added more fuel to the controversy over the sale of shares in Malta International Airport by saying the negotiations must have involved an "underhand poker game" reminiscent of a Clint Eastwood film.
Finance Minister John Dalli knew only how to bluff, he said without elaborating.
Speaking at a political conference at the Labour Party club in Sliema, Dr Sant said all the information about the privatisation of MIA should have been made public.
It remained to be seen what kind of say the government would have at the airport after the agreement was signed, he added.
The Labour leader said government spending had got out of hand and the people were getting nothing in return except for a series of regulators.
There was a regulator for communications, including the telephone service, but Maltacom had introduced the PhoneMail facility without the regulator doing anything about it.
"The way this service was introduced is obscene and yet Maltacom are promoting it as a new social service. In parliament, the minister responsible for telecommunications said he had not been informed about the service and had about 100 recorded messages through his phonemail.
"Maltacom have increased the time lapse before callers are charged for their call following pressure mounted by consumers and by the Malta Labour Party," Dr Sant said.
The Labour leader said that another regulator, the Malta Financial Services Centre, had not taken any action over the recently introduced charge on the saving accounts of small clients.
The MFSC has said it will investigate.
Continuing, Dr Sant said certain Planning Authority officials earned very high salaries and, it was said, some earned `commissions on the side`.
The landfills being suggested by the PA were "vulgarities".
Dr Sant described the government`s EU negotiations as a failure, adding that there was already free movement of persons in certain sectors.
A foreign tour operator had severed his connections with a local agent and was selling tours employing his own staff, he said.
Reacting to the speech, the Nationalist Party accused Dr Sant of wanting to isolate the country from the rest of Europe.