Busuttil says story of MP’s Gaffarena link ‘game to deviate from real scandals’

Simon Busuttil reaction over former minister's party donation for purchase of vehicle

Opposition leader Simon Busuttil has stood by Nationalist MP Joe Cassar, insisting that a story on how the then Nationalist health minister had “purchased” a car from businessman Joe Gaffarena is simply a “game to deviate public attention from scandals under the Labour government”.

“Joe Cassar never gave Gaffarena what he was after, which was a permit for his illegally-built petrol station and exaggerated compensation for the sale of half a house in Valletta,” Busuttil told MaltaToday. “Indeed, Gaffarena switched parties and received what he wanted under Labour.”

MaltaToday revealed on Wednesday that Cassar had acquired a second-hand car for his daughter from Gaffarena in 2012, in a transaction that the businessman refused to be compensated for. However, Cassar denied that the deal was a gift, explaining that Gaffarena himself had requested that the money be paid as donations to the PN instead.

The Opposition leader stuck by this argument, and vehemently denied that a sense of obligation from Cassar to Gaffarena was formed as a result of this transaction.

“Cassar bought a car for his daughter, and who he bought it from is none of my business; it seems as though he and Gaffarena were acquaintances which isn’t a problem in and of itself, ” Busuttil told this newspaper following a meeting with the Chamber of Pharmacists.

“Gaffarena refused to be compensated for the car, but Cassar kept on insisting, until Gaffarena finally told him to pay the money as a donation. No sense of obligation was created, evidenced by the fact that Cassar didn’t give Gaffarena what he was after, leading him to switch allegiance.

Busuttil also claimed that earlier this week, planning parliamentary secretary Michael Falzon delivered a speech in Parliament where he insinuated gross abuse by Opposition MPs, including allegations that an MP was gifted a car by an unidentified donor for his daughter. 

“Gaffarena must have passed that information on to Falzon in an attempt to damage Cassar,” Busuttil said. “This is simply a game that is being played by Gaffarena and the Labour government to try and deviate public attention from the crucial issues – that the government sanctioned Gaffarena’s petrol station and that it expropriated half of a building at Old Mint Street from him at an exaggerated cost.

“Those are the real issues, and nothing that Gaffarena and the government try out will deviate my attention from them.”