Said rubbishes claims PN had not been informed of private member’s bill

Nationalist MP Chris Said has refuted claims that party officials had not been informed about his decision to present a private member’s motion, calling for an investigation into anyone who had been subject to allegations raised by Daphne Caruana Galizia.

The Malta Independent reported today that PN parliamentary group whip David Agius had confirmed that Said did not inform or discuss the contents of his bill with the parliamentary group.

But – in a post on Facebook – Said said that he had done exactly that last Friday, when he had informed the entire parliamentary group that he intended to present a motion calling for an independent inquiry by three former judges into allegations raised by the journalist, who was killed in a car bomb on 16 October.

“Some time later Pierre Portelli, who had been present at the meeting, sent me a message, saying he thought my idea for the motion was excellent and that he felt the party leader should be the one to second it,” he wrote on Facebook.

Said also posted a screenshot of Portelli’s message.

He said that during the same meeting, Karol Aquilina had offered to help him get the motion ready and to ensure it fell within legal parameters.

In fact, he added, Aquilina helped him to get the motion ready over the weekend, when other legal advisors were consulted.

Said said that on Monday, he had passed a copy of the motion to party leader Adrian Delia and that Mario de Marco, deputy leader for parliamentary affairs, also saw it.

He said that the two had discussed with him when would be the best time to present the motion and that de Marco had recommended that it be presented on Tuesday.

Said said that on Tuesday he had informed the whip of the decision and had in fact ended up presenting the motion to the House Clerk that same evening, as agreed.