Update 2 | Abela expelled PL member over drugs incident, PN hits out at 'shocking' revelation

Updated with Labour, Toni Abela statement, adds Joseph Muscat reaction [video] and PN statement

A new excerpt from the 'secret' Toni Abela recording that was handed to the Commissioner of Police back in 2010, shows the Labour deputy leader for party affairs had expelled a PL club member, after finding out the party club had been the scene of an incident of alleged drug possession.

In the recording obtained by MaltaToday, which has also been circulated on the sock puppet YouTube channel 'kristianbuhagiar', Abela is heard recounting an episode in which the party club president admitted that he had found somebody inside the club's kitchenette, cutting "a block of white" [powder].

"I got that club president to make a declaration. That same day I kicked him out," Abela is heard telling someone.

Additionally, Abela is heard saying that he did not go to the police to report the incident because the member had thrown out the drugs in question.

"He himself told me they were caught in the act - he told me he did not realise what they were doing. Because it was he himself who threw out the powder into the rubbish bin.

"I told him, 'you've destroyed all the proof there was. God knows what happens if I go file a report."

The recording suggests that Abela was alerted to this incident after the member had disposed of the drugs in question; with the deputy leader then proceeding to expel the member from the party.

The recording appears to be part of the same one that was revealed in a courtroom a week ago by Richard Vella, formerly the operator of the PL's club bar in Attard, whom Abela also expelled from the party in 2010.

Vella claimed that the recording shows Abela admitting having told a Birkirkara police officer not to press charges against him and Labour local councillor John Bonnici, who were involved in a fight.

Abela, on his part, claims the recording in which he says he found a police officer of Labourite persuasion to quash a criminal report, was because the matter was not of a criminal nature, but a civil case.

Abela said that Vella had reported a club member for having changed the locks to his bar. As the deputy leader for party affairs, who manages the network of party clubs, Abela says he felt he should tell the police to ignore the report, because it was a civil matter.

Toni Abela statement

In a statement, the Labour Party said that on Thursday evening Abela gave a statement to the Commissioner of Police on the recording that was in the hands of the police since 2010.

"The Commissioner allowed Abela to hear the recording. The Commissioner informed Abela that there is no case."

In another statement, Abela said that the recording shows that he was "emphatic about not tolerating suspicious activities in our clubs and as an example I mentioned a decision I took in the case of a club where I realised there had been a suspicion of an illegal activity. In this recording, it's clearly audible that I took a decision to remove the person in question from the club, on the basis of a mere suspicion."

Abela said that Commissioner of Police John Rizzo told him "there was no case".

"The Commissioner also informed me that he has known of this recording since October 2010, with the statement given to him by [Nationalist MP] Hon. David Agius. The Commissioner said that even on that day, he felt there was no case."

PN statement

The Nationalist Party's communications director Frank Psaila described it as a "shocking" recording.

"Toni Abela knew that there was some form of drugs ['blokka droga'] in a Labour club, and instead of reporting it to the police he closed his eyes and took no action, so as not to damage the Labour Party. Instead of reporting it, Abela covered up and defended tainted individuals," Psaila said in a statement.

The PN also said Labour's reaction to the recordings was shocking.

"They are justifying what happened in these recordings. Abela covered up an illegality and Joseph Muscat's party is defending him. What does he care about people's children, who could have been the recipients of these drugs?"