Prime Minister Robert Abela “is being held hostage” by the inner circle of his predecessor who are pulling the strings and preventing him from taking decision’s in the country’s interest, the Opposition leader said on Tuesday.
Adrian Delia made the claim in parliament soon after Speaker Anġlu Farrugia turned down this request for an urgent debate on the sacking of government consultant and former police commissioner Lawrence Cutajar and the expected resignation of Labour deputy leader Chris Cardona.
Earlier the prime minister has criticised the Opposition’s decision to boycott the parliamentary grilling of Angelo Gafa for police commissioner.
In his address Delia questioned whether Abela himself grilled Cutajar before appointing him as a government consultant in January.
“Did he ask him why he did not investigate [former chief of staff] Keith Schembri, [auditing firm] Nexia BT, and other cases of corruption?” he asked.
While Schembri’s name has repeatedly cropped up during court proceedings in Daphne Caruana Galizia’s murder case, the auditing firm had made headlines in the Panama Papers scandal in which Schembri was also implicated.
“Can the prime minister say on what grounds was Cutajar given another role in January?” Delia asked.
The Opposition leader criticised the prime minister for not being in the loop on important issues, saying that Abela has repeatedly declared he was not aware of major issues despite having served for two-and-a-half years as former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat's legal adviser. He cited the example of a €100 million penalty clause should the government opt to terminate the hospitals concession agreement with Steward Health Care.
“Abela cannot act or take decisions, as in reality the decision to sack Cutajar from his consultancy job was taken when the inquiring magistrate placed him under investigation,” he added.
Delia claimed that the likes of Joseph Muscat, Keith Schembri and Konrad Mizzi were pulling the strings and blackmailing the prime minister.
“I challenge Abela to publicly declare if he believes Schembri, Nexia BT and Konrad Mizzi should not be investigated,” he remarked.
The Opposition leader said that even though Labour had made the country almost immune to corruption, he would keep fighting until the country had a government which would no longer institutionalise abuse and would not be controlled by criminals.