MLP throws its weight behind Louis Buhagiar

The Malta Labour Party is keeping tight-lipped over the police investigations involving former parliamentary secretary Louis Buhagiar and refusing to be drawn on whether the medical consultant should resign as a party spokesman pending the outcome of the case.

Professor Buhagiar is being investigated at the request of the health department in relation to an allegation that he overcharged a foreign patient for a service provided at St Luke's Hospital.

Asked to comment yesterday, MLP secretary general Jimmy Magro said he had no comment to make on the case, while Prof. Buhagiar himself said he had no intention of stepping down because "he had done nothing wrong".

The reactions are in stark contrast to the Labour party’s vociferous call for Police Commissioner George Grech to step down while he was under investigation for alleged attempted rape.

MaltaToday also attempted to contact Labour party leader Alfred Sant – admired on both sides of the political divide for normally taking the moral high ground in such cases - to ask him whether the MLP could be perceived as adopting two weights and two measures, but no reply was forthcoming.

Prof. Buhagiar yesterday strongly defended his decision to stand firm in his post as MLP spokesman while police investigations are ongoing.

"Do you think I should resign when I’ve done nothing wrong?" he asked.

Prof. Buhagiar also stressed that the patient in question had not reported him to the police, rather it was the hospital authorities which had got involved in a bid to put him in a bad light.

"The report contains only details of what the hospital authorities told the police, and has no statement from the patient," he said, adding that he was in contact with his lawyers to discuss the possibility of taking legal steps against the hospital authorities.

Earlier in the week a health department spokesman confirmed police were investigating allegations that Prof. Buhagiar charged a patient more than the normal rates for using the hospital's kidney dialysis machine.

The MLP spokesman defended the price he quoted the British woman of £1,200, saying it was a normal charge in the UK.