PN wants junior minister sacked: 'What is Muscat waiting for?'

Pressure is mounting on Prime Minister Joseph Muscat to sack his junior minister responsible for EU funds, who is facing a corruption probe.

Calling for Borg’s resignation, the Nationalist Party also called on MEPA chairman Vincent Cassar to ensure that MEPA “stops challenging the Ombudsman” and to withdraw the permit.

Parliamentary secretary Ian Borg, after telling reporters he would go ahead with works on his Rabat home, has suspended works pending an investigation by the permanent commission against corruption. He has insisted that he did nothing wrong.

Muscat has stood by his youngest Cabinet member, arguing that a report by the Ombudsman was “full of inaccuracies”.

“Over a week has passed since the Ombudsman’s report was handed over to the permanent commission against corruption and the Prime Minister has failed to do what everyone is expected him to do,” the PN said in a statement.

The PN accused Muscat of political hypocrisy: “He is the first to condemn others but he is the last to act on his people. His only reaction is to alienate people.”

The Ombudsman found that Borg’s permit for the construction of two dwellings had been issued following a “grave error” by the planning authority and called for it to be reviewed.

The Ombudsman has claimed that Borg used a “devious method” to get the MEPA permit for the property by using his father’s name and a project manager to appear as the property’s owners.
Borg is claiming that the person who purchased the property next to his “did the exact same thing”, when explaining why he applied for a permit using someone else’s name.

Government consultant Robert Musumeci, an architect, wrote in The Times today that Borg’s plot qualified for redevelopment according to local plan policies.