[WATCH] PL challenges Busuttil to take action against PN MP Toni Bezzina

Labour Party expects PN to take action against MP Toni Bezzina after court finds he had engaged government workers to carry out works on a PN club during their working hours

PL challenges Busuttil to take action against PN MP Toni Bezzina
PL challenges Busuttil to take action against PN MP Toni Bezzina
Labour Party expects PN to take action against MP Toni Bezzina after court rules against him in two libel cases

The Labour Party has challenged Nationalist Party leader Simon Busuttil to take action against PN MP Toni Bezzina after the court threw out two libel cases he instituted against Labour newspaper il-Kulhadd and GWU-owned l-Orizzont.

In a press conference held at the PL headquarters, incoming deputy leader for party affairs  Chris Cardona and Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi referred to libel cases filed by Toni Bezzina against Kulhadd editor Toni Abela and Orizzont editor Josef Caruana. This, Cardona and Zrinzo Azzopardi said, ultimately shed doubt on the PN’s good governance claims.

Bezzina lost two libel cases he filed against the newspapers in 2012, surrounding allegations that he had forced workers to make a false declaration. Bezzina – a former government architect at the then Resources Ministry – had allegedly engaged workers from the works department to carry out maintenance works on the PN club in Zurrieq using government-owned materials.

The Labour media had also revealed that three workers had been forced to sign a false declaration.

In both judgements, the court, presided by Magistrate Francesco Depasquale, established that in March 2012, Bezzina was the head of the rapid intervention unit within the resources ministry and that he was also the president of the PN’s sectional committee in Zurrieq.

Referring to the judgement, Cardona questioned what Busuttil’s reaction would be and whether he would stand true to his assertion of zero-tolerance to even the slightest suggestion of corruption.

Last year, Busuttil had urged the media to wait for the outcome of the libel cases when asked whether any action would be taken against Bezzina in light of the allegations made against him.

Expressing his belief that Busuttil would still not take any action, Cardona said that he expected Busuttil to “sanction” the MP.

He went on to question whether Busuttil was comfortable working alongside and defending someone who had been proven a liar.

“Libels will not stifle the truth,” he said, urging the PN to take action against Bezzina.

Bezzina, a spokesperson for the PN confirmed, will be appealing the judgement.