The Prime Minister’s failure to sack Keith Schembri’s following the latter’s “admission” in court to corruption and money laundering has stripped off the government’s "legitimacy", Opposition leader Adrian Delia said.
“Who is in command, is it the Prime Minister or Keith Schembri who is corrupt and has committed money laundering?” he asked.
“What does Keith Schembri know which is tying the Prime Minister’s hand? The Prime Minister, who has such a strong mandate from the electorate, does not have enough strength to remove one person,” Dr Delia added.
The Nationalist Party leader raised these questions during a political activity at the party's Sliema club during which he spoke on the events that followed Monday’s decision by Mr Schembri, the Prime Minister’s chief of staff, to drop libel proceedings against former Opposition leader Simon Busuttil.
Mr Schembri had felt aggrieved by Dr Busuttil’s remarks in a public protest in 2016, in which the latter accused the Prime Minister’s top aide of corruption.
In his address, Dr Delia said that in the aftermath of Mr Schembri’s refusal to testify in a case he had instituted himself for the truth to come out, he expected the Prime Minister to sack him, but this did not happen. In contrast, Dr Muscat did not have any qualms to demanding the resignation of (former ministers) Manuel Mallia and Michael Falzon, he said.
“The truth would have meant that Simon Busuttil was right and Keith Schembri was lying,” the PN leader said.
While accusing the Prime Minister of lying in parliament on Monday evening, he noted that Dr Muscat had even refused to make a statement on the matter.
Dr Delia reacted to the Prime Minister’s remarks that he had also withdrawn a libel suit in a case against Daphne Caruana Galizia on money laundering claims.
“I dropped the libel against the inheritors of a journalist who had been murdered. A democratic world dictates that nobody sues the inheritors of an assassinated journalist as that would mean an attack on democracy, on freedom of expression. That would mean that after killing the person one would attempt to kill the truth as well,” Dr Delia said.
The emperor not only lost his clothes but also lost his memory- Adrian Delia
On the other hand, Dr Muscat refrained from doing so when urged by the Council of Europe as he wanted the inheritors to accept the findings of the Egrant inquiry, despite the fact that full report had never been published, the PN leader said.
The Opposition leader also took the Prime Minister to task over the latter’s links to 17 Black owner and Delimara power station shareholder Yorgen Fenech. This Dubai-based company together with Macbridge, whose owner has never been disclosed, had been named as the two companies which would pay €2 million in Mr Schembri's and Minister Konrad Mizzi’s secret Panama companies.
Dr Delia said that the fact that the Prime Minister could not even recall the month of the year, date and circumstances when he had last met Mr Fenech, spoke volumes.
“The emperor not only lost his clothes but also his memory,” he remarked.
The PN leader said the level of arrogance of the current administration had reached unprecedented levels for a party which has been in government for just six years.
He said the government was acting as if the only way for the country to move forward was to accept corruption.
Dr Delia rounded off his address saying this was not a struggle for power but to safeguard democracy and the people’s support was required.
“The bigger the challenge the more united we stand,” he said.