Updated | 'I've never invited Pullicino Orlando to rejoin us' – Busuttil

Should the Nationalist party want to discuss ‘mafia’-like dealings, it need look no further than individuals within its own ranks, chairman of the Malta Council for Science and Technology Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando alleged in an interview with Sunday newspaper, Illum.

Pullicino Orlando, who switched allegancies to the Labour Party in the run up to the 2013 elections, said PN leader Simon Busuttil should also ask former EU permanent representative Richard Cachia Caruana what he thinks of the unsolved murder of his uncle, Baron Francis Sant Cassia.

He insisted he was not making statements or allegations, but simply raising what he felt to be interesting questions. He added that the attempted assassination of Cachia Caruana himself was never solved.

Pullicino Orlando went on to say that the Nationalist party has run out of ideas to attack the present government’s policies, resorting to mud-slinging instead. “They cannot attack on civil liberties, because they have lost all credibility on this. They cannot argue on migration or utility bills, because both topics have been duly addressed," he said.

Pullicino Orlando also said that the party could not argue on the issue of good governance either. “The PN’s track record on good governance does not make them proud. This is the watch on which the greatest scandals happened – BWSC, Enemalta, and others.”

“The same can be said about the PN using environmental issues as a ‘game changer’. The people will believe you when they see your actions and not when your own words betray you”, he said, quoting Simon Busuttil in saying ‘ODZ is always ODZ except in particular circumstances’.

Questioned about the administration of the Nationalist party, Pullicino Orlando commented that Cachia Caruana still retained a great deal of power within the party.

“The party has not changed at all. It is not a position to win an election”, he said. Asked about alternative party leaders he stated, “while Cachia Caruana is still part of the party, no De Marco would be given the power to lead”. During the interview, Pullicino Orlando claimed that Busuttil had in the recent months asked him to rejoin the PN ranks and contest the general election on the PN ticket.

“I can never be part of something that, rather than arguing policies, adopts a mud-slinging, finger-pointing approach. The PN’s argument lies in accusing the government of being dirtier than the Opposition. This is not tenable as with the emergence of just one scandal, the PN’s house of cards will come tumbling down”, Pullicino Orlando concluded.

However, the PN leader categorically denied meeting Pullicino Orlando in the recent months, or asking him to contest the election on behalf of the party.

"Candidature with the Nationalist Party requires the commitment to standards and values, chief of which is loyalty, which regrettably, Dr Pullicino Orlando does not fulfil," Busuttil said.