Simon Busuttil going to China ‘to see what Mizzi’s wife is doing’

Parliamentary question time sees Joseph Muscat and Simon Busuttil engaged in question ping-pong

Opposition leader Simon Busuttil will be travelling to China “to see what Konrad Mizzi’s wife is doing”, he told parliament this evening.

Addressing his comment to Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, Busuttil also said that he hoped that Sai Mizzi Liang – Malta Enterprise trade envoy and consul-general to Shanghai – will accept his request for a meeting.

The comment was made during supplementary questions, kicked off by a question by shadow justice minister Jason Azzopardi on the applications submitted under the Individual Investor Programme (IIP).

The Opposition’s question focused on who the 13 applicants granted Maltese citizenship were. However, the answer to the question referred Azzopardi to a previous reply that showed that over 400 applications had been submitted.

The questions were however taken over by Muscat and Busuttil after the latter asked the Prime Minister to say who the successful applicants were. Busuttil also “challenged” the Prime Minister to convene a meeting of the IIP monitoring committee, having met the first time last October.

“I am following the law which clearly stipulates that the committee has to meet at least once a year. I will follow the law,” Muscat said, adding that he will convene a meeting of the committee “at the opportune time”.

He referred Busuttil to a report compiled by IIP Regulator Godwin Grima and tabled in parliament in February. The report carried an evaluation of IIP applicants as at June 2014, when 173 main applications had been submitted. The absolute majority of the applicants hailed from former Soviet Republic countries, an annual report shows.

Reiterating that the law makes it clear that all names will be published as stated by the law, Muscat asked Busuttil to state whether, if elected prime minister, he would be withdrawing Maltese citizenship gained under the IIP.

The question was repeated five times; likewise, Busuttil asked for five times whether Muscat will be convening the IIP monitoring committee. Busuttil refrained from telling parliament whether he would be withdrawing or retaining the citizenships.

“Instead of replying to the questions, the Prime Minister is asking me questions,” Busuttil said, accusing Muscat of filibustering instead of revealing the requested information.

Reiterating that he will be convening the monitoring committee as stipulated by the law, Muscat said it was clear that the Opposition didn’t have a solid position on the matter.