Every person named in the Vitals inquiry must step down from political life and resign from every public role they occupy, the PN said in a statement on Friday.
This comes after news broke that EU Funds Minister Chris Fearne, former minister and governor of the Central Bank Edward Scicluna as well as three top civil servants are likely to be criminally charged in connection with the Vitals deal.
The PN said that anybody, be it the prime minister, the deputy prime minister, a minister a parliamentary secretary or anyone occupying any role in the public service, that is named in connection to the deal should immediately be removed from their position.
“Anyone involved with the biggest fraud in our country’s history cannot continue to enjoy its protection. This is what accountability and justice without fear or favour demand, irrespective of what Robert Abela has to say about it,” the party said in a statement.
It is clear, they continued, that Robert Abela, Joseph Muscat and Chris Fearne are aware of the contents of the inquiry conclusions, not only because they are aware of their own actions throughout the years but also because Abela is making use of what he knows about the inquiry to execute political manoeuvres in his favour.
This is happening with the complicity of the Attorney General and the Police Commissioner who are still “occupied” by Castille and make all of their moves only with the blessing of the Office of the Prime Minister, they said.
“The PN expects that the Attorney General and the Police Commissioner to stop dragging their feet and do as they are obliged as stipulated by law in order to deliver justice to the people,” they said.
In comments on Facebook, Opposition Leader Bernard Grech said that Abela had failed to learn anything from what led to Joseph Muscat’s downfall.
“Robert Abela is decided and determined to hold on to his deal with the devil,” he said.
Fearne, who took over the hospitals concession when Konrad Mizzi resigned from cabinet in 2019, is Malta’s nominee to become an EU Commissioner later this year. Scicluna served as Finance Minister at the time the deal was struck.
Neither Scicluna nor Fearne were singled out for any blame related to the deal in an investigation by the National Audit Office and they barely featured in documentation surrounding the deal that was filed as part of a civil court case that led to the deal being annulled.
Fearne has said that, while he is not aware of the details of the outcome of the inquiry, he maintains that there was no wrongdoing on his part.
Sources have said that the minister even called for a confidence vote among his fellow MPs on Thursday, insisting he never made a cent from the deal.