Justice minister files privilege complaint over claims he lied about Henley commission

Justice minister Owen Bonnici has called on the Speaker to investigate a potential breach of parliamentary privlege by Opposition MP Jason Azzopardi, who recently accused the minister of lying to Parliament.

“I did not lie, and the liers are those who are claiming that I lied,” Bonnici said in Parliament. “This, in my opinion, is a blatant case of abuse of parliamentary privilege.”

Azzopardi last week accused Bonnici of lying after it was revealed that Henley and Partners – the concessionaries of Malta’s cash for passports scheme – earn a 4% commission on the sale of government bonds to passport buyers.

In a statement, the PN recounted how Bonnici had told a parliamentary committee in March 2015 that Henley did not receive any commissions over and above the standard 4% they are paid on the €650,000 that main applicants pay for a Maltese passport.

Bonnici noted that Opposition leader Simon Busuttil had retweeted several tweets by Azzopardi, including one which decried “the lies spout out by the country’s corrupt clique”.

“I find these comments absolutely unacceptable, and it is clear that I told the truth.”

Azzopardi responded by calling on Speaker Anglu Farrugia to conduct a separate investigation into whether Bonnici lied during the public accounts committee meeting on 6 March 2015.

“He is persisting in a lie,” the justice minister retorted. “I hold Parliament in high esteem, and I would never stoop so low as to lie. He is the one who is lying.”