PN says Abela choosing to ignore corruption after Brussels comments

Updated at 2pm with Labour Party statement

The Nationalist Party accused Robert Abela of choosing not to fight corruption after he critised European Parliament (EP) leadership for reaching premature conclusions on the allegations surrounding bribery of MEPs by the Qatari government.

Abela told the state broadcaster while at the EU-ASEAN Summit in Brussles that parliament’s top leadership acted “too quickly” – a jab at European Parliament President and Maltese PN MEP Roberta Metsola. Instead, Abela said that the institutions should be left to do their work.

EP vice-president Eva Kaili was dismissed from her position this week after she was arrested by Belgian authorities in connection to a corruption investigation involving Qatar authorities.

In a statement, the party said that Abela’s comments is confirmation that he does not want to fight corruption, and would rather continue defending corrupt people, “including those in government and in the Labour Party he leads”.

“Instead of choosing to fight corruption, Robert Abela criticised the fact that action was taken by the European Union, which known for shutting the door to those who are corrupt instead of giving them wide berth like Robert Abela does.”

READ ALSO: Abela chastises Metsola for her reaction to Qatari bribe allegations

In reaction to the PN's statement, the Labour Party insisted that Robert Abela, as Prime Minister, took "unprecedented steps to strengthen the fight against corruption". 

The party accused the PN of preaching on corruption whilst "closing their eyes and ears to the warnings made to them".

"It's the people in the Nationalist Party who, while they were busy judging others, did not think about what they could have done themselves. In the end, others did the work for them. These people now have a credibility issue."

Days after Kaili’s arrest, Metsola announced an anti-corrruption reform package that will be ready by the new year. The package will see the strengthening of parliamentary procedure, a ban on unofficial relations with certain groups, a review of conduct rules, and an in-depth analysis of how parliamentarians interact with third-countries.

Four people, including Kaili, were charged and imprisoned last Sunday in Belgium amid a police probe into alleged corruption linked with Qatar.

Kaili, a Greek Socialist MEP and one of 14 vice presidents at the European legislative body, has been suspended from her party and sanctioned. She is temporarily withdrawn from her duties, such as representing the head of the parliament in the Middle East.

Kaili, 44, has been an MEP since 2014.

At least three of those arrested are all believed to be Italian citizens: director of No Peace Without Justice NGO Niccolò Figà-Talamanca; trade union leader Luca Visentini; the former S&D MEP Pier-Antonio Panzeri; and parliamentary assistant in the S&D group and Kaili's partner, Francesco Giorgi, according to Italian news agency ANSA.