The PN on Wednesday called for the resignation of Attorney General Victoria Buttigieg over her inaction in the Vitals deal case.
Addressing a press conference in front of the Police Headquarters in Floriana, spokesperson Karol Aquilina slammed Buttigieg for her "lack of awareness of her obligations".
In February, a court annulled a controversial deal that saw three hospitals handed over to Vitals, and subsequently Steward Health Care, for the running and improvement of Karin Grech, St Luke’s and Gozo hospitals.
“Buttigieg had to keep an eye on the contract and take action if any of the conditions were broken,” Aquilina said on Wednesday.
He added that according to the court, Buttigieg should also have been the one who opened a case challenging the validity of the contract.
“The courts observed that the Attorney General shied away from her obligations to carry out these two duties. The PN is urging Buttigieg to resign from her post over failing to see through her own duties,” Aquilina said.
Aquilina added that a month since the judgment, the AG had yet to “shoulder responsibility”.
“Buttigieg has done nothing. She has released no statements, taken no action and led no prosecution regarding this serious case,” Aquilina said.
Addressing the same conference, PN deputy leader Joe Giglio referred to Times of Malta’s survey exposing the lack of trust people have in the police’s investigations into the hospitals’ deal.
According to the survey, fewer than one in five people in Malta have confidence in the investigation into the deal.
Giglio pointed a direct finger at Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri whose “only guarantee in this country has been insecurity”.
“We have a demotivated police corps,” Giglio said, adding that officers were “overworked, overstretched, and definitely not overpaid”.
Giglio also referred to findings by an inquiry tasked with establishing whether the state failed femicide victim Bernice Cassar. The inquiry had concluded that the state 'system' failed the mother-of-two, particularly because of a lack of resources and a heavy caseload.
The conclusions were “obvious,” Giglio said, questioning the need for an inquiry to "discover facts that Camilleri should have already known about”.