[WATCH] Muscat stands by Schembri, ‘Busuttil lies after having no evidence on Egrant allegation’

Prime Minister accuses PN leader of using lies to harm the economy and foreign investment to Malta

Joseph Muscat spoke to the press after visiting two factories in Hal Far (Photo: James Bianchi)
Joseph Muscat spoke to the press after visiting two factories in Hal Far (Photo: James Bianchi)

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has stood by his chief of staff Keith Schembri in the face of allegations from PN leader Simon Busuttil, of €100,000 in kickbacks paid on fees from the Individual Investor Programme.

Muscat, who today visited two factories at Hal Far, said Busuttil was inventing a lie in a bid to harm Malta’s economy and foreign investments after failing to provide evidence of other allegations – first started by Malta Independent columnist Daphne Caruana Galizia – that his wife was the beneficiary of a secret Panama company

“If Busuttil believes that the payments from Brian Tonna to Schembri were kickbacks, then by extension he also got kickbacks from the former Nationalist administration for services he rendered to the PN,” Muscat said.

He repeated claims by Schembri that the money was repaid to him by Tonna for a loan he gave him in 2012, before Labour was elected a year later, and said that Busuttil must shoulder political responsibility if the magistrate dismisses the grounds of his proof.

“The allegations against Schembri were first made last year and I’m amazed at how the media hadn’t picked them up back then,” he said.

“I expected Busuttil to say yesterday why the people should believe his lie about myself and my wife, but instead he went off on a tangent and it now seems as though he doesn’t want to touch that false story.

Muscat repeatedly warned that Busuttil is trying to harm the economy and hinder foreign investment so as to gain personal political mileage.

“The country deserves a much better Opposition than the current destructive one, and Busuttil must shoulder responsibility for the current state of instability,” he said. “People are realizing what’s going on and I will not allow anyone to throw this country into instability or halt its economic rhythm.”

Muscat dismissed calls to suspend the IIP programme, which sells Maltese citizenship, saying the regulator of the programme was strong and that the process was transparent.

The prime minister also expressed shock at Busuttil’s language, when he called for Schembri’s arrest. “I did not even use that language when the oil scandal broke, or suggest that politicians be thrown into jail.”

“The people are worried that Busuttil, as an aspiring Prime Minister, will just up and decide to jail people who get on his bad books.”

In a comment to a journalist from the PN media house, Muscat said, “Those who falsify invoices will be the ones who will eventually go to jail.”