Enemalta chairman asked not to be reappointed, Muscat says

Labour leader Joseph Muscat has dispelled claims that Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi may have decided of his own will not to reappoint Tancred Tabone to chairman of Enemalta, saying the businessman had refused to be appointed back in 2005.

Tabone this week was charged in court on multiple counts of corruption, over allegations that oil giant Trafigura paid a consultant he employed - Frank Sammut, who was also charged - commissions for the sale of oil to Enemalta back in 2004.

"I think the Prime Minister is not being correct, especially on the matter of Tancred Tabone, where he gave the impression that he had removed Tabone from the role [of chairman] - when one consults the DOI statements of the time, in 2005 it had been Tabone who had asked not to be appointed again," Muscat said.

Today Muscat also skirted questions on whether he was aware of other Labour Party clubs that had been the site of drugs incidents, the same as was revealed in the Safi club in 2009, which the PN says the PL did not report to the police.

"I think the PN secretary-general Paul Borg Olivier and Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi have long known about this matter," Muscat said, referring to a complaint a former Safi club barman made to the Labour leader after he was sacked from the party club for having tolerated drug abuse inside the club.

The letters he wrote to Muscat were given by the barman, Joe Gerada, to Borg Olivier back in September 2012.

"He should  have reported the matter to the police... I don't think the Prime Minister is being correct," Muscat said.