Updated 7.00pm with Aquilina comment
Repubblika cannot be taken seriously until they become “less selective” in their causes, Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri has said, describing the NGO as an "extremist faction of the Nationalist Party."
"Does anybody have any doubt that Repubblika is not a PN faction? I don't think so," he said during an interview with Andrew Azzopardi on 103 Malta's Heart.
Presenter Andrew Azzopardi pushed back against that assertion, saying "people used to say that the General Workers' Union is a faction of Labour during Nationalist administrations."
Camilleri ignored the comment and continued to elaborate on his Repubblika claim.
"It's an extremist faction of the PN that in the last election caused even Nationalist voters to sway away from candidates who were too close to the NGO."
Camilleri was replying to questions about police commissioner Angelo Gafà, who Repubblika say should resign for his failure to prosecute politicians and other powerful people involved in corruption scandals.
The NGO is also currently clashing with magistrate Nadine Lia, saying that her family ties to lawyer Pawlu Lia make her unsuitable to hear a case it has filed concerning Pilatus Bank.
Lia is the Labour Party’s lawyer as well as personal lawyer to former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat.
Azzopardi wanted Camilleri to comment on Repubblika’s ongoing battles. But the minister would not be drawn into commenting, saying the NGO selectively picks and chooses its causes and allegations.
"Shortly after the general election a person who is very close to Repubblika made very serious allegations about the Opposition leader allegedly discussing a presidential pardon," he said.
"We never heard anything else about that allegation."
Camilleri was referring to former PN MP Jason Azzopardi, who in April alleged that during the election campaign, Bernard Grech had met relatives of Yorgen Fenech and discussed a possible pardon in return for a donation.
Azzopardi serves as Repubblika’s lawyer.
Grech had categorically denied the allegations and called the PN council to a meeting, which ended with the council backing the leader.
"When Repubbblika stops being so selective, I will start taking them more seriously," Camilleri said.
Repubblika president: facts speak for themselves
Repubblika President Robert Aquilina hit back at Camilleri in a Facebook post, saying the only thing “extreme” were the measures the NGO had to take to bring people to the streets to bring down Joseph Muscat’s criminality-stained government.
Its corruption allegations were so correct “that Robert Abela himself is removing individuals within his party who are still loyal” to Muscat, Aquilina said.
Camilleri spoke in one way to the Maltese public and another when speaking internationally, he added.
"They tell foreign institutions that they consult us and that they are even our friends, but they tell the Maltese people the complete opposite."
Aquilina would later add to his comment, noting the irony of a Home Affairs minister wanting an NGO to comment on a criminal allegation made of the Opposition.
If, as Camilleri appeared to believe, a crime had been committed, then the minister should ask the police commissioner why they had not pressed charges in the case, Aquilina said.
The Repubblika chief did not address Camilleri's claims about the NGO being linked to the PN.