Ana Gomes accuses Delia of gripping onto PN helm to deter personal investigations

MEP Ana Gomes, has said that Adrian Delia should resign from his position as Nationalist Party leader over reports that his alleged involvement in prostitution rings is being investigated. 

Gomes went on to state that if Delia keeps on occupying his role as PN and Opposition leader, he would be undermining the efforts of those who are working against corruption. 

These statements came after newspaper Illum sent questions to the MEP, following a Times of Malta report which revealed investigations into the Opposition leader’s alleged link to a prostitution racket in Soho, London.

The allegations, first published by deceased blogger Daphne Caruana Galizia, claim that Delia used a Barclays International account in Jersey, to process the payments of rents for a Soho, London property that was used for prostitution, on behalf of a Maltese associate to a company registered in the Marshall Islands.

MEP Ana Gomes was asked if Delia should resign or await the results of the pending investigations. 

“Political credibility requires that any individual who is under serious suspicion should resign, it doesn’t matter from where that individual hails from, either being from the government or parliament/party, a resignation should be tabled until investigations reveal no reasonable doubt in the individual,” she said. 

Gomes said that Delia’s resignation would preserve the idea of political integrity in the eyes of the citizens and insisted that this goes beyond the individual’s personal pride. 

Gomes was also asked whether Delia’s lack of such resignation undermines the fight against corruption. 

“Adrian Delia has been undermining the fight against corruption since he took helm of the party,” Gomes said. 

The MEP recalled how Caruana Galizia had revealed “suspicious” documents about the PN leader. 

“Any decent person who has been linked to such serious suspicions, in the way Delia has been linked, would not expose his own party to his personal problems,” Gomes insisted. 

“Not only did he not ignore the consequences these allegations have on the party and the country, but pushed to remain in power in order to prevent authorities from conducting an extensive and proper investigation,” the MEP alleged. 

Gomes compared the opposition leader to the government led by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat. 

“If Delia chooses to not resign, he is unfortunately acting like the government leading the country, with the PM defending people like Konrad Mizzi, Keith Schembri and Neville Gafa,” 

The report states that Gomes referred to the mentioned three as “criminals”.

The MEP’s call for the Opposition leader’s resignation comes just days after civil society network Occupy Justice, also requested his resignation.

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