[WATCH] Is Mosta mayor under police investigation? Abela simply says he is not charged

Prime Minister Robert Abela has remained tight-lipped on Mosta mayor Chris Grech, as speculation on whether the latter is being investigated grows.

A few days ago, lawyer and ex-PN MP Jason Azzopardi took to Facebook to say that Grech, “is being investigated for a serious crime,” and that he is on police bail.

Last week, MaltaToday asked police whether Grech was being investigated, however they neither denied nor confirmed the claims. Meanwhile, questions sent to the Labour Party last week were completely ignored. 

This newspaper also tried to contact Grech himself to no avail. 

On Monday, Abela was asked whether he spoke to Grech following the claims, to which Abela replied, “I thought you were going to ask me about a PN MP and if he’s being investigated by the police.”

Abela later said that Grech has no charges against him, but stopped short of saying that there is no investigation on the mayor. When a journalist continued to press him, he reiterated, “The mayor of Mosta has no accusations against him.”

Grech was in the centre of a controversy involving Ficus trees in Mosta’s square. Activists had claimed that Grech made the decision to have the trees uprooted even though it wasn’t part of the original plans. 

The trees’ potential removal caused demonstrations on site, and ultimately resulted in a reversal of Grech’s decision.