Labour ‘unaware’ of PN allegations of ‘secret’ Libyan travel guest

The Labour party has claimed it is unaware of an incident reported by Nationalist organ il-mument, in which a police officer stationed at Malta International Airport escorted a Libyan national off an airliner, and onto a private jet chartered by a Labour delegation for Tripoli.

The story has been front-page news on the PN's Sunday newspaper il-mument for weeks now, specifically over the role that a police officer, PS88 Aldo Cassar, played in escorting a Libyan national off an airliner that had landed in Malta en route to Tripoli; and then onto the private jet that Labour used for its visit to Libya in April.

Joseph Muscat led the delegation to the National Transitional Council of Libya with former tourism minister Karmenu Vella, MPs Michael Farrugia and Noel Farrugia and the party's international secretary Alex Sciberras Trigona.

According to the report, the police officer has business ties in Libya, and was in plain-clothes when he escorted the Libyan national, ostensibly using his security clearance, over the MIA airfield onto the private jet carrying the Labour delegation.

Il-mument also featured footage stills of Cassar (his back to the camera) trailing the Labour delegation at MIA, and alleged the police sergeant is "close" to Joseph Muscat, something the Labour leader has denied.

"Dr Muscat does not know the police officer in question, never met him and is not aware of the incident that was reported in the papers," a Labour spokesperson told MaltaToday.

The party did not comment on who this Libyan national was, or if the delegation had accepted to accompany a third party to Tripoli.

Il-mument said the Commissioner of Police had since informed the newspaper that the allegations made against Cassar are under internal investigation.

"It might be better if you ask Mario Debono for any details since it seems that the gentleman, who leads GonziPN by the nose, thinks he has exclusivity over anything that has to do with Libya," the spokesperson said.

The party has not substantiated its comment about Mario Debono, the GRTU vice-president who during the Libyan conflict led a humanitarian effort of aid transportation between Malta and Misurata. Today Debono leads the GRTU's effort to foster business relations with the Misurata business chamber.

In comments to MaltaToday, Debono said he knew "absolutely nothing" about what Labour were referring to. "I certainly have no exclusivity over Libya... Disneyland is in Paris, not Malta. If the Opposition leader wants to invent stories about other people, he should go there."

Debono, a former Nationalist ministerial attaché, and Muscat have a history of litigation after the former had pleaded guilty of sending hate mail to the Labour leader back in 2007 when he was an MEP.