The Nationalist Party yesterday accused Labour leader Joseph Muscat of trying to put pressure on the media not to report on a case about a development permit for his house in Burmarrad.

The case revolves around an application in 1998 to demolish a house that belonged to Dr Muscat's parents and build instead a store and a terraced house with pool.

The permit, according to the PN, was approved by the planning authority on February 27 1998, just 12 days after the application was filed. At the time there was a Labour government. That date, the PN pointed out, was three days before the period during which the public could make objections had expired.

Dr Muscat's lawyer, Pawlu Lia, insisted the permit was dated March 27 and the objection period closed on March 2. The lawyer even published the permit to prove the point.

However, the PN pointed out that the date appearing on the permit was when it was sent by the authority and not the approval date. That date, they insisted was March 27, 1998 and the online records of the planning authority proved it. According to the authority's records, the board handling the application made its decision on March 27.

Dr Lia said in reply to the PN's comments that the permit was dated March 27, 1998, when in fact the permit was finalised. This, he added, was evident from a copy of the permit which he also sent to The Times.

He said the PN preferred to go by the little information posted on Mepa's website when it could easily view the original documents and the complete file of the case. Dr Lia invited journalists to view the file and verify the information themselves.