‘They are Labour’s allies’, Delia says of those spreading allegations on his private life

Adrian Delia has called those who he said were spreading allegations about his personal life “allies of Joseph Muscat and of the Labour Party”, who wanted to damage him and his family, but were ultimately harming Malta.

The Nationalist Party leader is currently going through a separation from his wife Nickie Vella De Fremaux, and has been the subject of a number of allegations, including some concerning domestic abuse.

Speaking on Sunday during a NET FM interview, Delia said that he had taken Lovin Malta - which he said had been dirtying his name - to court “not just to defend myself, but also so that the truth can emerge”. On Wednesday, Lovin Malta had published a series of articles about the fallout from allegations made by Delia’s wife that he had been violent towards her and their children. 

Regarding criticism levied against him for taking libel action against the news portal, he said it wasn’t fair that after throwing mud, those making the allegations against him would go on to accuse him of trying to bully the media for going to court. “The media has an important role and has to be protected, but it also has an obligation to say the truth,” he said.

Delia also claimed that the rumours about his marital issues had purposefully began to emerge at a time when he had started to gain more support. “Coincidentally, when the PN's support was increasing, a campaign against me started”. MaltaToday’s latest trust barometer in December had indicated that Delia’s trust level had bounced back to 24.7%, increasing by almost seven points compared to the previous month. 

He asserted that those behind the allegations pretended to be “champions of justice”, but that they were in fact trying to keep the government in power.

Underlining that his “doors are always open” and that he was never afraid of being asked questions, he said, however, that there was a court agreement between him and his wife that they would not speak in public about personal matters.

The interview also touched on the matter of the sale of land in St George’s Bay to the Corinthia Group, with Delia saying that Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi could either “not negotiate” or was “a thief”, for giving a concession to the group to build a commercial and residential real estate and offices, for what he said was a price of €51 million, when the 100,000 sq.m of land in question is in fact worth €800 million.

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On the subject of Valletta 2018, Delia said that this had ended up not leaving any cultural heritage to the capital city whatsoever. “But it is leaving a lot for those who were handed contracts by direct order,” he said.

He said that Culture Minister Owen Bonnici had issued around 250 direct orders. “Instead of issuing a tender, the minister decided himself who to give [V18-related] contracts to, in order to hand them over to his friends and associates.”

“During his working hours, is Owen Bonnici offering a service to the Maltese people, or to those he gives contracts to?” he asked, “This goes to show that the government uses people’s taxes to directly give money to the people it wants to.”