Abela’s return to the House: ‘I’m waiting for my €5,000 from the GWU’

Re-elected Nationalist MP Tony Abela, the former parliamentary secretary who returned to parliament in the Joe Cassar bye-election, used his maiden speech on Monday evening to pine for his €5,000 in damages he won in a libel action against a union newspaper.

In parliament, Abela called on journalists to verify their facts prior to publishing articles, referring to an Appeals Court judgement that confirmed the damages that the GWU-owned newspaper It-Torca had to pay him for implying corruption on his part.

“The Prime Minster appears to very close to the GWU, so maybe he could me so that they might give me the €5,000 which I can then give to the Nationalist Party,” Abela implored, while making a plea to journalists to be more conscientious when verifying claims. “Sometimes a simple phone-call can verify facts,” he said.

He also called on Labour MP Joe Debono Grech to send a written apology to independent MP Marlene Farrugia for shouting in Parliament last week that he would ‘beat her up’

“Although opinions differ within this chamber, this doesn’t mean that we cannot still be friends in our everyday lives,” he said. “Last week’s incidents reminded me of the 70s and the 80s, when [former minister] Lorry Sant used to cross the Chamber to shake his fist at the Opposition.

“I remember Debono Grech in a much better light, as somebody who had taken care of his sick wife… he should write a letter of apology to Marlene Farrugia,” he said, upon which he was halted by Speaker Anglu Farrugia who told him not to question his ruling passed earlier on.