Updated | Sandro Chetcuti denies allegations of occupying office at Labour HQ

Malta Developers' Association (MDA) president Sandro Chetcuti has confirmed reports of being involved in several meetings at the Labour Party headquarters.

On Sunday, PN organ il-mument accused Chetcuti, who was elected president of the MDA earlier this month, of hosting several contractors in a third-floor office he is occupying at the Labour HQ.

MaltaToday asked Chetcuti to confirm whether he was using this alleged office to host contractors.

"I confirm that over the past months I have had meetings at the Labour Party HQ. Honestly, I cannot see what all this fuss is about. As a normal citizen, I have a right of association," Chetcuti explained, while insisting that all MDA members were free to associate with any political party.

In its report, the PN newspaper reported that Chetcuti was occupying an office at the Labour HQ and that over the past months, he had met several contractors and traders.

Speaking to MaltaToday, Chetcuti denied being given an office at the Labour HQ but confirmed having met several people there.

Chetcuti later clarified that these meetings had nothing with his role as MDA president or his previous role as vice-president. He also argued that since his election as president, he "has had no such meetings."

Asked whether he had met contractors during these meetings, Chetcuti said he had meetings with several people, "among whom possibly included contractors". He however, categorically denied of exclusively hosting contractors at the Labour HQ.

"My meetings at the HQ had nothing to do with the MDA or its politics. If I want to host contractors, I can host them at the MDA headquarters," he stressed.

In a dig at the newspaper and the Nationalist Party, Chetcuti said il-mument did not see any conflict of interest when the director-general of another constituted body contested the MEP elections - a reference to Vince Farrugia, the outgoing director of the GRTU, who ran for MEP in 2009.

"Perhaps the newspaper thinks that the rules for Nationalists are different from those for Labourites, considering that it did not see any conflict of interest when the Director General of another constituted body contested the MEP elections on a PN ticket," he argued.

"In holding a public role and at the same time using the office at the Labour Party's headquarters, Chetcuti is creating a conflict of interest," il-mument reported, while alleging that several contractors and traders were hosted at the offices for months.

However, the MDA President quickly rebutted allegations of conflict of interest. "There has never been nor will there ever be any conflict of interest between my role as MDA President and my political opinion," he stressed.

"MDA members are free to associate with any political party and I assure you that we have members who support different political parties while we take decisions only in the interest of our members, not of any political party."

Il-mument also said that prior to the election, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat had confirmed that Sandro Chetcuti had assisted the then-Opposition leader in organising meetings with contractors.