Updated 5.30pm - Adds PN statement
PL deputy leader Chris Cardona today called for action to be taken against PN MP Toni Bezzina, after a court ruled that a 2012 newspaper report detailing how government resources were used for partisan purposes was true.
The report had detailed how Mr Bezzina had ordered three government workers to carry out work at the PN club in Zurrieq using government-owned materials.
The report said the workers were then made to sign an affidavit saying the works were carried out voluntarily in their own personal time.
One of the workers later submitted another affidavit denying what was said in the original one.
READ: Nationalist MP loses libel case
Addressing a press conference, Dr Cardona noted these works were done on the eve of the local council elections in the same district Mr Bezzina had contested.
Mr Bezzina was also the president of the PN club in question.
Dr Cardona said last year Opposition leader Simon Busuttil had dismissed these claims as a mudslinging campaign and had taken solace in the fact that Mr Bezzina had filed two libel cases.
The court has now ruled that the claims were not libellous, Dr Cardona said.
“The Opposition leader, who presents himself at the paladin of good governance had a chance to take action. The court sentence confirming what the media had said is a test for the Opposition leader…
“He just talks about other and is weak with those around him…he is 'Mr No Standards',” Dr Cardona said.
Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi pointed out that Mr Bezzina was head of the rapid intervention unit at the ministry of rural affairs at the time.
His actions raise questions about Dr Busuttil’s good governance proposals, Dr Zrinzo Azzopardi said.
'Who summoned workers to PL HQ?' - PN
In a statement, the Nationalist Party accused the new PL deputy leader of aggressive, confrontational politics.
It highlighted the fact that the workers in question had signed the affidavit at the Labour Party's headquarters, and challenged Dr Cardona to explain who had written the declaration, who had summoned workers to the PL headquarters, and why.
"The PL should explain how and why a declaration linked to a civil case was drafted and signed at the PL's headquarters," the PN said.