Bernard Grech accuses Prime Minister of weakness on Rosianne Cutajar's ‘temporary’ resignation

Bernard Grech has accused the Prime Minister of weakness in dealing with allegations that parliamentary secretary Rosianne Cutajar received money from murder suspect Yorgen Fenech.

The Nationalist Party leader said that despite Cutajar’s “temporary resignation” the Prime Minister failed to act when the claims were first made.

Cutajar resigned pending an ethics probe this afternoon.

"The Prime Minister failed another test because he did not ask Rosianne Cutajar to resign," Grech said.

He was addressing a press conference at PN headquarters on Thursday during which he slammed Robert Abela for claiming credit for developments in the Daphne Caruana Galizia case.

Asked by MaltaToday whether he would remove Adrian Delia over reports that the former Opposition leader exchanged messages with Fenech when it was already known he was the owner of 17 Black, Grech said he would act based on the facts at hand.

“I have no problem to take the necessary action when I have the facts at hand… the allegations against Rosianne Cutajar were that she received money from Yorgen Fenech but this does not mean I will act only on a like-with-like basis,” Grech said.

He said Cutajar’s resignation pending the investigation of the Standards Commissioner came about after pressure from the Opposition and civil society.

Abela claiming undue credit for Daphne murder case developments

Referring to developments in the Caruana Galizia case, Grech said the Prime Minister “played no part in them despite claiming credit”.

The PN leader insisted the Caruana Galizia case arrived at this stage thanks to pressure and perseverance by the family, the Opposition and civil society.

He expressed solidarity with the Caruana Galizia family.

“Let us not kid ourselves that we arrived at this stage thanks to government and Robert Abela. We arrived here thanks to the contant pressure from the Opposition and civil society,” Grech said.

He added that Abela was part of the Labour administration that “fostered a climate of impunity”.

He pledged that the Opposition will continue to work so that justice is done against all those who may have played a part in the Caruana Galizia murder or in its subsequent cover-up.

Grech said he trusted the Police Commissioner but urged him to continue investigating all aspects of the crime and not to exclude politicians who may have tried to obstruct the course of justice.