Updated | PN insists new recording ‘confirms cover-up concocted by OPM’

The Nationalist Party reiterated that the positions of Home Affairs Minister Manuel Mallia, of Acting Police Commissioner Ray Zammit and of head of government communications Kurt Farrugia were “no longer tenable”.

Speaking during an interview on Radio 101, PN leader Simon Busuttil said that the Prime Minister has resigned himself to removing Mallia and Zammit and is now focusing on protecting Farrugia.

The PN were reacting to a recording released this morning, confirming that the chief of police had informed the Office of the Prime Minister that “shots fired were warning shots”.

According to the PN, this recording confirmed that Mallia, Zammit and Farrugia knew what was going on, insisting that a conversation took place between police constable Paul Sheehan, Zammit and Farrugia.

Farrugia was in telephone contact with Zammit, who in turn was in telephone contact with Sheehan on a separate telephone line.

“This emerges clearly from the question ‘how many shots did you fire?’ [kemm-il tir tgħajtu?] which the Commissioner then refers to as warning shots. It is an insult to people’s intelligence that there is an attempt to spin these words. It can’t be more clear than this that Farrugia knew what the correct version of facts was and that Paul Sheehan had fired two shots that hit the Scotsman’s car. Moreover, Mallia was in the presence of the Commissioner. This leaves no doubts as to the full involvement of these three persons,” the PN said.

It argued that Farrugia was in indirect contact with Sheehan before the government issued its statement “full of lies and twisting of the truth”. The PN said it was his responsibility to check the facts “and this shows lack of responsibility and professionalism by this government”.

“Farrugia shouldn’t have checked his information solely from the person who fired the gun,” Busuttil said. “He should have investigated further before releasing that statement.”

“Also, from [this morning’s] recordings, Zammit didn’t tell Farrugia that warning shots were fired in the air or that the incident was a hit-and-run,” Busuttil said. “Those details were invented by Farrugia.”

According to the PN, the unadulterated recording released this morning “confirmed the authenticity” of the transcripts as released by the PN media on Friday evening.

The PN also said that the Police Commissioner had ordered an Inspector to preserve the scene of the crime. He also said that Mallia could be heard in the same recording.

“It is clear that today’s recording is just one in a series of conversations that took place that night. This leaves no doubts that the government concocted a cover-up, orchestrated by the Office of the Prime Minister.”

While on Friday night, the PN media released an abridged paraphrased reenactment of the conversation, Busuttil today accused the Prime Minister of being selective with what parts of the transcripts to release.

“I understand that the media released the information it's been given, but it’s unacceptable that the government only selected parts of the transcript to release. If the government has the phone recordings, why didn’t they release them in full?”

The PN said that the Prime Minister should publish all call logs and messages on that night.

 “Two hours had passed between when Farrugia spoke to Zammit and when the statement was published,” Busuttil said. “Is it possible that he did not speak to the Prime Minister during that time to tell him that he had heard one thing but would publish something different?
"The government is in panic and desperation mode, only telling the people what they want us to know when they have a duty to tell us the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. The more times goes by, the more people will start doubting whether they can trust Muscat."