[WATCH] PN challenged to stand by its standards: Labour insists for action against Bezzina

PL challenges PN to stand by its standards

The Labour Party has once again challenged the Nationalist Party to follow the standards “it so frequently preaches” in its treatment and reaction to PN MP Toni Bezzina.

Incoming deputy leader Chris Cardona said that now that the court had ruled against Bezzina, the PL expected an appropriate reaction from PN leader Simon Busuttil.

“The fact that he has chosen not to dismiss him is a clear depiction of his double standards,” he said, adding that inaction towards scandals had become symptomatic of the party.

“Busuttil can no longer be taken seriously, and he wants to be both judge and jury,” he said.

Opposition leader Simon Busuttil said he will await the outcome of an appeal to be lodged by MP Toni Bezzina, who has lost two defamation cases when it was alleged he used government workers under his supervision to carry out private works at a PN party club.

A court ruled that a 2012 newspaper report that Bezzina had ordered three government workers to carry out work at the PN club in Zurrieq using government-owned materials, was true.

The workers were then made to sign an affidavit saying the works were carried out voluntarily in their own personal time. One of the workers later submitted another affidavit denying what was said in the original one. All three workers told the court that they had been coerced in signing the original affidavit.

Bezzina had filed libel proceedings against il-Kulhadd and l-Orizzont, denying that the works on the PN club had been carried out during their working hours. The court however established that this had indeed taken place.

The Nationalist Party has highlighted the fact that one of the workers in question signed a second affidavit at the Labour Party's headquarters, and challenged Cardona to explain who had written the declaration, who had summoned workers to the PL headquarters, and why. 

PL MP Joe Sammut said that the case revealed the double standards of the government at the time, and he encouraged the PN to adopt constant standards to judge the whole party by.