Nationalist Party general secretary Paul Borg Olivier insisted this morning that Joseph Muscat must withdraw his election candidature after admitting with The Sunday Times he was mistaken to not report an alleged drug trafficking case at Safi Labour Club.
Speaking at Mgarr this morning, Dr Borg Olivier noted that Dr Muscat had told the newspaper that his deputy, Toni Abela, had also made mistakes in this case and were he an election candidate, he would be expected to withdraw.
Since Dr Muscat had also known of this case, by his own yardstick, he should do the honourable thing and withdraw his election candidature, Dr Borg Olivier said.
This was an extremely serious case involving drugs. How could Dr Muscat expect to get away as if nothing has happened?
"The Labour leader throws mud at others, but he had now fallen into a puddle of mud and cannot expect to come out of it clean," Dr Borg Olivier said.
He had had a political, ethical, and moral responsibility to act, and he had not.
"Shame on you, shame on you," Dr Borg Olivier said to a standing ovation.
This, he said, was the true red face of Dr Muscat.
Dr Borg Olivier also said he would not be intimidated by Labour candidate Manuel Mallia's threat to send him to prison, following his comments about the oil scandal claims.
"He wants to throw us in prison for saying the truth, and then the Labour leader, with gross irresponsibility, did nothing about a drug case in a club near a school," Dr Borg Olivier said.
Sunday Times video of Muscat admission - http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20130224/local/muscat-admits-mistake-in-safi-club-drugs-case.458902
GONZI - MUSCAT HAS ADMITTED THAT HE LIED
Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said Dr Muscat's admission meant that he was admitting he had lied about this case when he said he did not know about it.
Dr Muscat was twice told about this drug trafficking, a case which on conviction carried a possible life sentence, he said, but the only thing he did was to pose for a picture with the informer.
"You have to govern with foresight, not with hindsight," Dr Gonzi said.
"He (Dr Muscat) was not able to take this basic decision in the interests of youth because he put the interests of Safi club first," Dr Gonzi added.