News • 10 November 2002

No hard evidence that politicians were or are freemasons

By a staff reporter

SAN GWANN - Following last Sunday’s extensive coverage on freemasonry, MaltaToday followed up its investigations by asking political parties on their stand to freemasonry. The MaltaToday investigations shot down the allegation made by former Lorry Sant henchman Joe Zahra and now part of the Lou Bondi team. Joe Zahra had effectively suggested that a number of politicians were in fact freemasons.

MaltaToday asked Nationalist Party Secretary-General Joe Saliba, Malta Labour Party Secretary-General Jimmy Magro and Alternattiva Demokratika Secretary-General Stephen Cachia, whether their party statutes forbid party officials, MPs and local councillors from being freemasons?

Mr Joe Saliba confirmed that the PN’s statute specifically prohibits its members from registering in any other political party or in any other movement which goes against the principles and interests of the Nationalist Party.

"The Nationalist Party’s Code of Ethics specifically forbids Nationalist Party officials, Members of Parliament, Local Councillors, Candidates, Members of Executive Committees of PN Movements, Members of the Sectional Committees and Members of the Party Executive Committee from being freemasons.

"Clause 13 of the Code of Ethics which deals with Secret Societies states that ‘secret societies are by their very nature a denial of democracy’ and declares that ‘membership in the Nationalist Party is incompatible with membership in all secret societies, whether it is freemasonry or otherwise."

MaltaToday also asked the party secretaries whether they would consider having their party MPs make a public declaration that they were not freemasons.

Mr Joe Saliba said that on 8 January, 1991, the Nationalist Party had issued a press release of a resolution its executive committee had approved regarding the party’s stand on freemasonry.

AD Secretary-General Stephen Cachia told MaltaToday the Green Party had no such clause in its statute barring membership in secret societies for officials.

"Although there is no clause in our statue forbidding membership in such organisations, Alternattiva Demokratika is against such membership.

"In our party, there was never any case in which a party official was involved in freemasonry, and if there were any, they would no longer remain members of the party."

Asked whether he would consider making a public declaration stating AD’s officials were not freemasons, Mr Cachia said he had just said so and would be glad to repeat it.

"There is nobody in Alternattiva Demokratika who is a freemason. AD was one of the first parties to criticise the presence of public officials in masonic lodges in our newspaper Alternattiva back in 1990."

At the time of going to press, MLP Secretary-General Jimmy Magro had not yet replied to MaltaToday’s questions.