Did Abela know of Muscat raid beforehand? ‘You should ask Jason Azzopardi’

Prime Minister Robert Abela evaded questioning on whether he was forewarned about plans by the police to search Joseph Muscat’s home.

Abela was fielding questions from the media outside Castille on Thursday morning a day after police searched Muscat’s Burmarrad home.

Joseph Muscat’s residence was searched by police from the Financial Crimes Investigation Department, as part of a corruption probe into the Vitals Global Healthcare hospitals deal.

"I think you better ask that to Jason Azzopardi,” Abela said when he was asked whether he knew about the raid. “Now we understand clearly what he wrote publicly last Sunday on social media, when he had no problem revealing that he knew what was going to happen."

"He does not have a constitutional role which allows him to know beforehand," Abela said.

He was referring to a status uploaded by PN MP Jason Azzopardi on Facebook.

Jason Azzopardi's Facebook post on Sunday, which in retrospect suggests that he knew about the impending raid on Joseph Muscat's house

"One of the PN’s proposals, which Abela called a gimmick, suggests the inquiring magistrate against corruption has their own staff and employees so that he or she would not need to depend on the Police and FCID to plan operations, work, arrests and searches related to the inquiry,” the post read. “No wonder Robert Abela is against it. You’ll understand why soon," Azzopardi wrote.

Abela said his comments were not a veiled threat towards the inquiring magistrate who ordered the raid.

"My message was consistent, no one is above the law, everyone is equal," Abela said, adding his first reaction to the raid was expressing concern on the confiscation of the mobile phones of Muscat's teenage daughters. "I believe proportionality should be exercised."

On Wednesday Muscat also said he knew about the raid beforehand in comments made to the media. Asked on the issue, Abela said the question had to be asked to Muscat himself.

In his first public reactions following the raid, Abela said he has full trust in the institutions but emphasised that they should safeguard that trust.

"As a government we have full trust in the institutions and we gave them all the resources to conduct their work. They, on the other hand, should exercise their powers to achieve justice and safeguard that trust," Abela said.