Big contractors and businessmen have been getting too close to the Labour Party, former party deputy leader Anġlu Farrugia reveals in a no-holds-barred interview today.
“When you see certain people getting close to the party... if they’re genuine they’re welcome.
“But I fear the several people who wield power in the country – big businessmen and contractors – I don’t feel comfortable getting close to them for a number of reasons,” Dr Farrugia says.
It is Dr Farrugia’s first interview following his forced resignation last December, just days before the start of the electoral campaign.
Dr Farrugia says he fears the PL is changing its core values from a party which mainly represents the working class to one which feels too comfortable with big businessmen, adding he knows contractors are close with individuals involved in Labour’s finances.
Dr Farrugia blasts Joseph Muscat’s claim that he was forced to resign over comments he made about a magistrate following a court case.
He claims he had even been informed last September that Dr Muscat had intended not to appoint him deputy Prime Minister if Labour is returned to government.
He also insists he was kept out of Labour’s decision-making process, which led to his faux pas on the water rates during his televised debate with Simon Busuttil.
“Unfortunately, Anġlu Farrugia was so loyal to Joseph Muscat that he gave him total leeway and didn’t realise he was being stabbed in the back.
“This is like calling your best friend over and then shooting him in cold blood.”