Delia gets ready for PN election: ‘I want rigorous due diligence of candidates’

Adrian Delia, the embattled leader of the Nationalist Party, has insisted on a “most rigorous” due diligence and verification process of the prospective candidates of the PN leadership election. 

Delia has been wracked by allegations, mainly over his role as corporate services provider to a Maltese property owner whose Soho premises were used as brothels. Delia denies that he is under investigation over payments he processed for the parties involved. 

He lost two confidence votes in July alone over accusations that he stayed in contact with Tumas magnate Yorgen Fenech after he was outed as the owner of the 17 Black firm of Dubai, which could have served as a conduit of funds to Panama companies owned by disgraced PM Joseph Muscat’s chief of staff Keith Schembri. 

“I have insisted that these rules of verification be enforced in the most rigorous manner possible for who shows interest in running for PN leader, myself included,” Delia said. 

Delia lost a vote in the General Council last week which called on councillors to either ask members to vote in a new leadership election, or simply reaffirm Delia in a one-horse race. 

“I feel it is in the interest of the PN and the democratic process itself that a rigorous due diligence is carried out,” Delia said. 

The decision was further reinforced in a PN executive meeting that approved the rules for th forthcoming PN election.