Prime Minister Robert Abela is making a U-turn in wanting Central Bank Governor Edward Scicluna to resign, and were it up to him, he would keep him in the post, PN leader Bernard Grech said on Sunday.
The prime minister had been defending the Central Bank chief and had not asked him to step down until pressure built up, not least from the PN, Grech told a Net FM interviewer.
Malta, he said, had a 'government by crisis' moving from one crisis to another whether it was in the energy sector, or the state of the infrastructure, to being unable to choose what was right and wrong for the country.
Scicluna, along with former deputy prime minister Chris Fearne and 13 others, is facing charges of fraud, misappropriation and fraudulent gain related to the privatisation of Gozo, Karin Grech and St Luke’s hospitals. A court on Wednesday said there was enough evidence for the accused to stand trial,
On Friday, Scicluna was officially axed from the board of the Malta Financial Services Authority. He has so far refused to resign as central bank governor, and insists the central bank has its “own rules”.
Grech last week demanded the recall of parliament to discuss Scicluna’s position. The prime minister had described the call as 'a stunt'.
“The Opposition and the government should stand together to ensure Scicluna does not stay in his role,” Grech said, adding that retaining Scicluna in his position would damage Malta’s financial reputation.
He noted that when Fearne resigned from the Cabinet as soon as the charges were filed, two months ago, Abela said he would have liked him to stay on.
“If it were up to Abela, both Fearne and Scicluna would remain in their posts,” Grech said.
The Labour government has created a "climate of impunity" and Scicluna now believed he could do what he liked.
Grech referred to a Times of Malta's report on how three computer science students were suspended from a national cybersecurity contest because of a police investigation started two years ago, saying this was a case of being strong with the weak.
The students had been arrested after they found and exposed a security weakness in Malta’s largest student app, FreeHour.
"So these students are being investigated, and the investigations have stopped them from moving forward in the competition, but then what about Abela's clique? They do what they like," Grech said.
"Country lacks planning in every sector"
Moving to other subjects, Grech said the country was lacking planning in every sector and the people were paying the price.
"Abela said we will not have power cuts, and that a temporary power station will stop such power cuts," he said.
"But, people have now ended up with diesel-fuelled generators outside their windows," he said, showing that Abela has lied to the people.
"He (Abela) also blamed the power cuts on the shore-to-ship system and electric vehicles, but one of the people behind the shore-to-ship system caught Abela on his lie. The system has hardly been used so far. And what is the government planning to do about electric vehicles, stop investing in them after having promoted them?"
Grech ended the call by pointing to what a Nationalist government would do in its first 100 days, including addressing the cost of living crisis, making the environment a fundamental Constitutional right and taking court action to recover the €400 million stolen for Vitals/Steward Healthcare.