Chris Cardona says Keith Schembri must be fired from the Labour Party

Labour Party deputy leader Chris Cardona says ‘the damage has been done but the party must send a clear signal – if not it will be an accomplice’, as he calls for Keith Schembri’s dismissal

Chris Cardona
Chris Cardona

Labour Party activists have turned their guns on the Prime Minister’s former chief of staff with Chris Cardona being the latest to call for Keith Schembri’s dismissal.

The PL deputy leader said Schembri must be kicked out of the party in an ominous warning that anything short of this drastic action will render the party an accomplice.

“Keith Schembri should be fired from the party immediately even if it is too late. The damage has been done but the party must send a clear signal - if not it will be an accomplice,” Cardona wrote in a Facebook post this morning.

The deputy leader said that over the past weeks he restrained himself from speaking in public, expressing his views within the party’s internal structures. “But I believe every limit has been skipped… I cannot remain silent,” Cardona said.

He joins former PL secretary general Jason Micallef who has also publicly called on the party to fire Schembri.

What appears to have tipped the balance is yesterday’s testimony by police inspector Keith Arnaud, who confirmed under oath that Schembri is being investigated for homicide, tampering with evidence and other crimes. Arnaud was testifying in the compilation of evidence against murder suspect Yorgen Fenech.

But anger among the PL’s rank and file was fuelled by Schembri himself when telling a journalist that he “gave Labourites 10 election victories”.

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The cocky reply has angered many and Cardona reflected this in his Facebook post: “I would also like to make it clear that contrary to what has been said, it was not Keith Schembri who won 10 elections for the Labour Party. The Labour Party won because the people trusted us and believed that only the PL has the best vision for our country.”

Cardona also has his personal reasons to be angry. In court it emerged that murder suspect Yorgen Fenech had received a note from Schembri when out on police bail with instructions on what to tell the police.

The note, delivered by Fenech's personal doctor, Adrian Vella, tried to pin the blame for the murder on Cardona, citing as a motive the brothel incident, which Caruana Galizia had written about. Schembri has denied authoring or sending the note, which has been described as an attempted frame up on the Economy Minister.

READ ALSO: Yorgen Fenech had discussed escape plan to Tunis with his brother and uncle, court hears