Marlene Farrugia will seek a no-confidence vote in the Energy Minister and the Prime Minister’s chief of staff unless they resign after today’s Cabinet meeting.
The former Labour MP, now sitting as an independent in Parliament, had pledged to file a motion of no-confidence when the Panama scandal broke a fortnight ago.
Late yesterday, minister Konrad Mizzi referred to her warning when speaking in Parliament, urging her to go ahead there and then, and the motion would be debated within three days, on Wednesday. He said he had nothing to fear, he was standing tall, and his intentions had been honourable. (See separate story about parliamentary exchanges)
When contacted earlier, Dr Farrugia said she wanted to give Prime Minister Joseph Muscat the benefit of the doubt and wait for the outcome of the Cabinet meeting.
“After what the Prime Minister said on Sunday I still have hope that he will take action to change things and this is why I want to wait for the outcome of the parliamentary group meeting [yesterday] and the Cabinet meeting [today],” she said.
It is customary for Cabinet to meet on Tuesday but it is unclear whether the Panama affair will be on the agenda.
After what the PM said on Sunday, I still have hope that he will take action to change things
Speaking in Gozo last Sunday, Dr Muscat said the government had to acknowledge its mistakes, learn from them and make amends. Without mentioning minister Konrad Mizzi and chief of staff Keith Schembri by name, he said the government had to be humble and understand those who were disappointed with what had happened. However, he did not say how he would address the Panama affair.
Dr Farrugia said that the only way out of the Panama affair was for the pair to resign. She said the fact that they felt the need to open companies in Panama had created a cloud of suspicion. “It creates the impression that given the chance they would have siphoned off money to another jurisdiction away from the scrutiny of the authorities and this is not right.”
Dr Farrugia insisted that ifthe two public officials did not resign, she would have no option but to file a no-confidence motion in Parliament in a bid to have them removed.
On Sunday Dr Farrugia joined the national protest against corruption organised by the Nationalist Party. Opposition leader Simon Busuttil told The Sunday Times of Malta the PN was not ruling out anything when he was asked whether he was considering a no-confidence motion in Dr Mizzi and Mr Schembri.
“Any action will be taken at the right time. What we are doing now is forming a majority against corruption, outside Parliament. Unfortunately there is no such majority in Parliament, as otherwise the government would have collapsed,” Dr Busuttil said.
Meanwhile, this morning, Dr Farrugia challenged Dr Mizzi for a one-on-one debate on TVM.
"I'm ready when you are Konrad," she posted on her Facebook page.
kurt.sansone@timesofmalta.com