[WATCH] Abela knew about Montenegro wind farm scandal in November, but did nothing - Delia

The Prime Minister knew months ago about the Montenegro wind farm scandal revealed this week, but did nothing, Adrian Delia has said.

The PN leader said that, as it has emerged, despite saying he was disgusted at the revelations about the deal this week, Robert Abela had known in November about the deal to sell a Montenegrin wind farm to Enemalta, but Cabinet had still unanimously backed Joseph Muscat's leadership.

"Abela tried to take the people for a ride. When the scandal was revealed this week, he said he knew nothing about it. But, six months ago, he knew," Delia said.

"In November, an agreement for Muscat to leave was reached. But the agreement wasn't only for this... Muscat approached Abela [to ensure he would guarantee continuity.]"

Delia said it was now evident that the agreement had also included the giving of consultancy posts to former tourism minister Konrad Mizzi and to ex-police chief Lawrence Cutajar, which had only been terminated due to the persistence of the PN.

Delia, who was speaking during an interview on NET TV after a stormy parliamentary group meeting in which MP David Thake called for him to step down, said that criminals had seized control of the Labour Party and were using it to satisfy their own motives and to steal from people.

Such criminals still enjoyed a role within the PL, Delia said, and this continued to cause harm to Malta's reputation.

He pointed out that, just as Malta is emerging from the COVID-19 crisis, with many people still suffering from its effects, the government was engaging in public relations exercises, funded by people's taxes, to try to look good.

"Had this money which is being stolen through corruption been used to the benefit of the 110,000 persons who got no assistance from the government during the pandemic, the 7,000 unemployed individuals could have been helped... utility bills could have been reduced, and we could have invested in our young people while stengthening pensions for our elderly," he said.

Delia reiterated that Robert Abela's hands were tied, and that he couldn't make decisions when it came to getting rid of people within the Labour Party upon whom a dark shadow of corruption has been cast.

He said it was now evident that the agreement had also included the giving of consultancy posts to former tourism minister Konrad Mizzi and to ex-police chief Lawrence Cutajar, which had only been terminated due to the persistence of the PN.

Delia, who was speaking during an interview on NET TV after a stormy parliamentary group meeting, said that criminals had seized control of the Labour Party and were using it to satisfy their own motives and to steal from people.

Such criminals still enjoyed a role within the PL, Delia said, and this continued to cause harm to Malta's reputation.

He pointed out that, just as Malta is emerging from the COVID-19 crisis, with many people still suffering from its effects, the government was engaging in public relations exercises, funded by people's taxes, to try to look good.

"Had this money which is being stolen through corruption had been used to the benefit of the 110,000 people who got not assistance from the government during the pandemic, the 7,000 persons who are unemployed could have been helped... utility bills could have been reduced, and we could have invested in our young people while stengthening pensions for our elderly," he said.

Delia reiterated that Robert Abela's hands were tied, and that he couldn't make decisions when it came to getting rid of people within the Labour Party upon whom a dark shadow of corruption has been cast.