New evidence has been brought to the government’s attention regarding the issue of inferior quality concrete at the Accident and Emergency department of Mater Dei Hospital.

In a brief statement, Health Ministry said it has re-constituted the Board of Inquiry, chaired by Mr Justice Emeritus Philip Sciberras, to report on the said evidence.

It did not say what the evidence was.

Earlier today, former Health Minister Louis Galea issued a statement saying that, under his watch, the Foundation for Medical and Social Services and the government did not know of the alleged fraud in the certification of Mater Dei concrete.

In a reaction, the Nationalist Party said that as Judge Sciberras and his son Alex had already reached their conclusions, the new evidence should be passed on to the police for them to carry out their investigations.

The PN said the government should stop wasting time and creating smokescreens to protect the guilty and smear the innocent.

In a week full of scandals uncovering the government’s dirt, including the Zonqor, Mint Street and code of ethics scandals, the government was seeing what it could reinvent.

The Prime Minister and the Health Minister should stop playing games and take serious action against those committing fraud in the weak hospital concrete saga, the PN said.

The Labour Party replied in another statement saying it was clear that the Opposition leader was afraid of the inquiry.

The government, it said, worked from the very beginning to uncover the truth through an inquiry led by Judge Sciberras, who the Nationalist Party was attacking.

The government, the PL said, could not take lessons from those who, on the alleged work for votes scandal, promised to assist the the man who told them about the matter instead of taking the case to the police, as it was now asking to be done.

The PN leader, who was not credible, and his party, the PL said, should be consistent in their actions.