UPDATED| Fenech Adami replies to Muscat's accusation that he hid his ties to Gaffarena

A war of words has erupted between PN deputy leader Beppe Fenech Adami and the Labour Party over both parties’ ties to the Gaffarena family.

In its latest salvo this afternoon, the PL have insisted that Opposition leader Simon Busuttil was panicking and could not escape his responsibility to take disciplinary steps against Fenech Adami on account of his ‘lies.’

Fenech Adami had accused Prime Minister Joseph Muscat of falsely stating that Fenech Adami had tried to hide his professional relationship with the Gaffarenas, in reply to an interview held on ONE radio, earlier today, during which  the Prime Minister asked whether Nationalist Party leader Simon Busuttil’s was planning to take any action against Fenech Adami following the publication of documents showing that Beppe Fenech Adami was Mark Gaffarena’s lawyer in this morning's papers.

During the interview, Muscat had also accused Fenech Adami of lying by claiming that he knew the entrepreneur “only by sight.” The Labour reader, referring to a news report published by MaltaToday, also said that the PN had to explain its ties with Joe Gaffarena. MaltaToday reported how former Nationalist Party secretary-general Joe Saliba purchased a block of apartments in the heart of Paceville together with entrepreneur Joe Gaffarena, four months after relinquishing his post in the PN in June 2008.

Earlier this afternoon Fenech Adami had hit back at comments made by Muscat, claiming that he had already made public his connection to the Gaffarenas – which he says is a professional one – in a news conference some days ago. The relationship goes so far back that it predates his being a Parliamentary deputy, he said.

“It is a lie to say that Mark Gaffarena is a personal friend. But even if it were true, what then should the Prime Minister do about the friendship between Gaffarena and Parliamentary Secretary Michael Falzon? Falzon had gone on holiday with Gaffarena, met with him before the Old Mint street deal, which he had also signed.” 

Fenech Adami said the friendship translated into two dodgy deals which turned Gaffarena into a multimillionaire overnight, adding that at the time of the revelations, another deal had been in discussion – this time for the expropriation of the Valletta police station from Gaffarena.

“The facts about Gaffarena are these and no spin by Joseph Muscat can change them," said Fenech Adami. "The PN did not give Gaffarena what he wanted, Gaffarena then went to the PL and got all he wanted and more and today Gaffarena is a multi-millionare thanks to the Labour government”.

"Joseph Muscat has a lot to answer for with regards his relationship with Gaffarena and how, upon becoming Prime Minister, he had granted him permission to operate an illegally-built petrol station, gave him millions in the two Old Mint street property deals and was in the process of doing the same for the Valletta police station," said Fenech Adami.

In a radio interview this morning, Muscat declared that he would not allow anyone to sully the reputation of his government, saying that “our predecessors were worse” was not an excuse.

During the telephone interview, Muscat had said that the government was achieving positive results, as shown by Malta being the fastest-growing economy in Europe. Unemployment was at a record low, said the Prime Minister, adding that gas an fuel prices had also gone down to below average EU levels.

He hit back at critics of his decision to allow filmmakers to close Mgarr ix-Xini bay for three months, pointing out that this film has injected €20,000,000 to the economy, and Gozo in particular.

“I am not going to let anyone throw mud at this government...I am not going to accept sermons from those who have no credibility” said Muscat, referring to the Beppe Fenech Adami incident. “Is [leader of the opposition Simon Busuttil] going to take any steps against Fenech Adami? Others have left behind a tangled mess that undermines systems. The systems are being cleaned and will continue to be cleaned and we will see to it that nobody sullies the reputation of this government.”

The latest press statement by the PL said that Busuttil needed to learn to wait, explaining that Muscat would “take all necessary steps...including the rescinding of expropriation orders, if need be,” after outcome of the investigation into the Old Mint Street property deals.

“The Leader of the Opposition wants the Government to interfere with the Attorney General regarding what steps to take, as well as breach the procedures of the Public Service Commission. ...the measures Busuttil is proposing, were they to be implemented in the manner he describes, would actually strengthen the hand of the alleged abuser.”