Former minister urges Castille to come clean on John Dalli's resignation

“I strongly believe that the questions raised regarding his case, do merit some kind of explanation from the OPM,” he said.

Now a government backbencher, the former minister says that though some people might argue that Lawrence Gonzi had ‘rectified’ things some years after the case by appointing Dalli a consultant, questions still remain unanswered.

“I believe that there are relevant and impertinent questions,” insisted Mugliett. In a revealing interview last Sunday on MaltaToday, European Commissioner for Health and Consumer Affairs John Dalli claimed that a “climate of apartheid has crept into the party, where today’s leader feels he must have all singing the same tune, which is definitely wrong.” Dalli also reiterated his view that he had been a victim of an orchestrated ‘political assassination’ attempt.

“Any such comments need to be listened to and taken seriously,” Jesmond Mugliett said, though he had misgivings about the ‘apartheid comment’. “Personally I don’t know from where he drew this conclusion. It seems to me that he is no longer close to home. It’s been a long time since I last talked to him in person. “But on his personal case, yes, I believe that John Dalli is right,” declares the former Minister. “One of the most things that worries me about Dalli’s interview with MaltaToday is the part where he refers to Dutch firm Simed.”

On Sunday Dalli questioned how the Simed Directors, who had commissioned the fabricated report and presented it to the Prime Minister, have managed to ‘get away with murder’. “He is right in feeling that justice has not yet been done in his regard, after the fabrication of stories against him,” Mugliett added.

Pierre Portelli questions Dalli’s behaviour

However, others in the Nationalist Party disagree. Contacted by MaltaToday, Pierre Portelli, president of the Nationalist Administrative Council lashed out at Dalli’s statements. “I fully disagree with John Dalli’s comments regarding the state of the PN. And I firmly believe that he is not right in claiming that a climate of apartheid has crept into the party.”

One needs to listen and evaluate every comment, including John Dalli’s, but he is not right in his conclusions, Portelli insists. “We have always been an open party with different points of view and when a party official or Cabinet Minister is right, the others defend his position… like we did when VAT was introduced, for example.

“I don’t agree with John Dalli’s comment. He is not right. Today I am more active in the party than he is. Dalli is now out of the political scene and definitely not as in touch as I am with the party core. Our party has been and still is open to internal discussions, proof of the matter is John Dalli himself.”

During the interview, John Dalli also talks about MP Jeffrey Pulliciono Orlando’s private members’ bill that proposes the introduction of divorce.

“I don’t think that it is the case. On the contrary, Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando must have felt really comfortable to come out the way he did. It is JPO’s character – he has always been like this. I remember his crusade against the cement factory during EFA’s administration – where he openly pushed forward a petition of 10,000 signatures. John Dalli formed part of that administration, didn’t he?” Pierre Portelli asks.

“I must admit that, on the contrary, I was shocked with John Dalli’s comments and not with JPO’s private members’ bill proposing the introduction of divorce,” he adds. “Everybody has his own style in politics. For example Commissioner Joe Borg never made such comments while holding office. Last week I personally saw Commissioner Dalli on the Granaries in Floriana during the PN’s celebrations, something Dr Borg never did.”

So is he suggesting John Dalli was wrong in being present at the party’s activities? “It was his choice, and he had every right in doing so. But yet again it all boils down to different characters,” Portelli said.