Karol Aquilina on dangerous driving claims: ‘They wanted to shut me up’

The Nationalist MP Karol Aqulina has slammed the Labour Party and its media wing ONE TV for trying to shut him up by inventing false claims of dangerous driving.

“This was not a prosecution, it was a persecution,” Aquilina said in parliament on Tuesday.

Aquilina had been charged last May over an incident that took place in June 2019 on Triq Diċembru 13 in Marsa, when Aquilina allegedly refused to obey police instructions while driving.

Footage of the incident, aired on television by the Labour presenter Karol Stagno Navarra on his programme 'Pjazza', showed Aquilina in his car, apparently blocking the route of the ministerial vehicle despite the orders from two police officers on motorbike, accompanying the vehicle.

Last Wednesday, Aquilina was absolved of any criminal charges in the case.

The MP has said he knows the high-ranking police official behind the claims, stating he was “the most corrupt official in the corps.”

“I know who gave Stagno Navarra the manipulated footage, and I will be taking the necessary action in due time,” he said.

Aquilina said the story was “fabricated” so that he stops his criticism of former and current Labour officials.

“Just days before the claims surfaced, I was speaking about Konrad Mizzi, Keith Schembri and former police commissioner Lawrence Cutajar,” he said.

The PN MP said he expects no apology, but asked who will be apologizing to his family.

“Who will be apologizing to my wife? Who will be apologizing to my children, who will be reading fake claims on their father?” he said.

Karol Aquilina went on to claim that on Monday, he was followed by a ONE News car on his way to parliament from Floriana.

“They were stalking me,” he said.

He said he will be continuing his fight against injustice and corruption.