Adrian Delia goes all out against Chris Fearne, says he doesn't understand rule of law

Prime Minister hopeful Chris Fearne does not understand the rule of law and has claimed in recent interviews that if elected Prime Minister he would choose who to investigate, Opposition Leader Adrian Delia said.

Speaking at the Nationalist Party club in Tarxien, Delia said that Fearne's opponent in the Labour leadership race, Robert Abela, was right in saying that Fearne doesn't quite understand the rule of law concept. 

"Chris Fearne still hasn't understood the rule of law because he is saying that when he's Prime Minister, he would investigate a lot of people as if he has that power. He even says he would investigate me. 

"You shouldn't have to wait to become Prime Minister to do that. You can write to the Police Commissioner today and ask that I be investigated. Do it, I'm not corrupt, I didn't launder money, I'm not afraid. If you want to see justice done, do it with facts and not with empty words," Delia said.

The PN leader targeted Fearne in Sunday's speech and gave Abela the backseat as he said that Fearne was the second-in-command to the most corrupt politician in the world, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat.

He asked where Fearne was during his years as Deputy Prime Minister since July 2017 and said that what Fearne failed to do, he would be doing himself.

"I'll tell you what I'll be doing in 48 hours, something you have failed to do. In the Egrant report, magistrate Aaron Bugeja specifically says that Karl Cini of Nexia BT should be investigated. What you didn't do, I'll do myself," Delia said, adding that he had already given instructions to his lawyers to take legal action. 

In his testimony during the Egrant inquiry, Cini said that he had established only three companies in Panama, while the Forensic Accountants Harbinson Forensics found that he had also set up the company Real Trade Investments Global Corporation in Panama, and not in the Britain Virgin Islands, as he had said in his testimony. The inquiry recommended that Cini be investigated for discrepancies in his testimonies and for possible perjury.

Delia continued to attack Fearne for his promises on the environment, where the latter claimed he would plant trees in village squares all over Malta. Delia said he was unimpressed by this feeble proposal and that the Maltese had a right to clean air.

"Joseph Muscat didn't resign. He was forced out by civil society and the people. He had no interest to remove himself from Prime Minister and both the Labour leadership contestants speak of continuity despite what the country is suffering," Delia argued, criticising Abela for asserting that he would not make vast changes to the current cabinet, implying that the government under his leadership would carry on as usual.

He also criticised Abela for being Muscat's consultant in Castille during turbulent times when stories of corruption and kickbacks were being revealed by the media and the law courts.

"President George Vella has vindicated me in recent days, uttering the same words that I have said three years ago: we are not living in a normal country," Delia said, adding that the promise of lower utility bills and the removal of the 'cancerous' Marsa power station in 2013 had manifested in an LNG power station in Delimara which was "the dirtiest energy project in the history of Malta, a money laundering machine that resulted in the death of a journalist."