[WATCH] PN calls on Michael Falzon to spill the beans on Gaffarena deal

Jason Azzopardi: 'Who instructed Clint Scerri to pile pressure on Lands Department?'

Opposition MP Jason Azzopardi called on former planning junior minister Michael Falzon to reveal who ordered his aide to push through the Gaffarena expropriation deal.

The MP said police investigations over the controversial expropriation which led to the resignation of junior minister Michael Falzon should be extended to the secretariat within the Prime Minister’s Office.

Reacting to the latest "shocking revelations" on the expropriation of a Valletta building, Azzopardi said these confirmed the "direct involvement" of the Office of the Prime Minister, adding that the Labour government was mired in corruption.

Earlier this week, the Auditor General revealed that the police will investigate an affidavit by a former Lands Department director, who said he felt threatened and pressured by the office of former parliamentary secretary Michael Falzon to steam ahead with the expropriation of half a house from property developer Marco Gaffarena.

The MP said that since Falzon declared that he did not instruct his aide to pile pressure on the Lands Department, “then the pressure must have come from elsewhere. If we take Falzon’s claims at face value then we ask who put pressure on Clint Camilleri? Was it somebody within the Prime Minister’s secretariat?”

He added that Camilleri’s affidavit exposes at least two criminal offences; trading in influence and the breach of official secrets.  

Falzon was forced to resign in December after Gaffarena was awarded €1.65 million in public lands and cash in a fast-track expropriation.

Azzopardi called on the police to reveal the outcome of the meeting held with the NAO.

"The police should say whether it will initiate a criminal investigation," Azzopardi said, adding that the police should have taken the initiative six weeks ago when the NAO report was published.

The PN press conference was also addressed by MP Ryan Callus who said “if Falzon insists that he did not give Clint Scerri any orders, then he should immedialty come forward and say who was dishing out instructions to Scerri in order to give the Gaffarena deal the green light.”