‘I received no gift from George Farrugia, and don’t speak for others’ – Chris Said

Justice minister Chris Said, who sanctioned Cabinet's recommendation to President George Abela to issue a pardon to oil trader George Farrugia for his role in the kickbacks for oil scandal, declared this morning that he had never received any gifts from the businessman.

Said, who addressed a press conference at the PN's headquarters, stopped short of replying to questions by journalists who wanted to know his opinion about other Cabinet colleagues, after finance minister Tonio Fenech was yesterday alleged by Labour of having received a €5,000 gift from Farrugia.

The justice minister hit out at the Labour Party for trying to divert attention to what he described as a 'scandal within a scandal' where the PL's financial administrator Joe Cordina, turned out to be a director in a fiduciary company which was used by Farrugia as a front to his financial dealings.

Cordina resigned last night amid the controversy which erupted.

Asked by MaltaToday about politically appointed chairmen or members to governmental boards, a number of whom have been recently charged in Court for corruption or irregularities, Chris Said said that the businessmen appointed were and the majority are of good standing.

"The difference though is that whenever there was a suspicion, whoever you were a judge, chairman, director, clerk, we called in the Police," Said stressed, adding also that contrary to this, the Labour Party hid serious crimes from the public eye, such as the Safi PL club's drug case.

Said added that he agreed with calls to strengthen the institutions and introduce vetting of those people appointed to governmental boards.

He stressed that the PN "was and will remain committed to fight corruption".

Said, who was confronted by Labour media to give a guarantee about his colleagues in Cabinet, said he could not speak for anybody except for himself, and hit back at Muscat's handling of a drug case within a PL's club.

"Muscat was caught lying when he said that he never knew about the drugs, while Tonio Fenech issued a statement with a categorical denial of the allegation that he received a gift from George Farrugia," the minister said.

During the press conference, Chris Said spoke about the PN's track-record in creating jobs, emphasising the creation of 20,000 new jobs throughout the last Legislature.

"Nothing came by coincidence," he stressed, adding that the results were obtained amid an international economic crisis.

"We not only ensured to keep the country's finances strong, but we were completely focused on saving jobs and creating new ones," he said.

The minister added that despite Muscat's insistence for the country to follow Cyprus's example, "we moved forward, may God have mercy on us had we listened to him on that."

He added that the PN is now focused on creating 25,000 new jobs in the coming five years.

"We are committed to this because if you put all our electoral proposals into context, they are all aimed to generate economic growth, and keeping the country's finances on a sound footing. Once we achieve this, we will be able to create jobs," he said.

Chris Said hit out at Labour's track record in government between 1996 and 1998, where rather than creating jobs, the country faced a serious economic deficit, was faced by 33 new taxes and worse, witnessed spiralling unemployment.