[WATCH] Adrian Delia certain Jason Azzopardi did not make light use of parliamentary privilege

Nationalist Party leader Adrian Delia is 'certain' that Jason Azzopardi thought hard about the allegations he made in parliament last week.

In a qualified defence of his MP, Delia said parliamentary privilege was not a light matter and was sure Azzopardi would be taking responsibility for his statements.

Last week, Azzopardi claimed in parliament that three men suspected of murdering journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia had been tipped off from within the police force, and that the mole had been transferred to another section of the force once his actions had been discovered. Azzopardi lambasted the Police Commissioner for failing to take criminal action against the named sergeant.

Read also: Lead investigator in Caruana Galizia murder case lambasts Jason Azzopardi over 'baseless' allegations

The government and Labour Party have accused Azzopardi of abusing of his parliamentary privilege when he chose to make such explosive statements in parliament rather than in court.

Azzopardi, who is appearing as parte civile counsel for the Caruana Galizia family in the murder trial, has refused to repeat his statements outside parliament, which means that he cannot be sued.

“Jason Azzopardi the MP, himself decided to, divulge information, including very serious allegations, in parliament,” said Delia, when asked about whether he was upset at the fact that he had not been informed by Azzopardi about his statement beforehand.

“Every parliamentarian that uses this privilege must do so responsibly and I understand that if our MP, Jason Azzopardi, chose to make that type of statement, he surely did not do so lightly. He surely thought about what he was going to say and took responsibility for that statement.”

The PN leader stressed however that while the police and secret service had both denied Azzopardi’s claims, a “serious explanation” needed to be given to the public so that it can rest assured that “those who are meant to be protecting them, are doing so, and not protecting criminals”.

Pressed on whether he felt that he should have been informed, Delia insisted that “as a matter of fact, he did not inform me”.

Azzopardi still environment spokesperson

Responding to media speculation, that Azzopardi was no longer the party’s environment spokesperson, Delia insisted there had been no decisions taken by the party.

On Tuesday, Newsbook claimd that Azzopardi had left a message in a chat group for PN environmentalists saying that he was no longer the PN’s spokesperson. When contacted Azzopardi insisted with website that he would not comment on internal party matters.

He has since posted a number of cryptic messages on Facebook suggesting that he feels betrayed from within the party.