Alex Agius Saliba Brings Up Peter Agius’ Easter Sunday “Figolli Distribution” Amid House-Visit Voucher Controversy
PL MEP Alex Agius Saliba handed out 100 vouchers, each worth €150, to voters during his run-up to the June elections. These vouchers seemingly granted the beneficiary a “laptop/PC service” at The Notebook Centre in San Ġwann.
“These vouchers were distributed by many different entities, including local councils around Malta and Gozo,” he said.
“Case in point – PN-led St Julian’s local council has given these services for free, not only to 100 residents but to all residents in their locality.”
“Is this also considered a corrupt practice by Peter Agius?” the PL MEP asked.
Agius Saliba went on to say that “the law is very clear – these vouchers are not redeemable for products and can be used only for services.”
“Can Peter Agius justify if providing hundreds of free figolli during Easter Sunday in Qormi is a ‘corrupt practice’ or not?” he questioned.
“The electoral law specifically mentions the distribution of ‘food, drinks and entertainment’ – aren’t Peter’s figolli defined as food?”
Agius Saliba explained how he chose to distribute the vouchers during his door-to-door visits, believing it was impractical to raffle them at coffee mornings or other fundraising events, which typically attract an older audience.
“Therefore, I opted to hand out these vouchers whenever the right opportunity arose during my door-to-door visits. This week, I distributed 20 vouchers while on my way to a door-to-door session in Ħamrun (St Joseph Street). No vouchers were given out during large events or gatherings,” he said.
“Despite these futile attacks I will continue to work closer to the people,” he then told the newsroom.
Earlier today, PN MEP candidate Peter Agius took to social media to reveal that a family visited by Alex Agius Saliba disclosed that the Labour MEP handed them a €150 voucher while on a house visit.
“This is a ‘corrupt practice’! According to the law, whosoever does anything of this nature will lose their seat if elected!”
“No wonder they protect Muscat! No wonder they don’t want to hear anything related to the rule of law. Labour buys votes in order to win, and they are ready to break any law to make it!”
A photo posted by Peter Agius depicts the actual voucher which was handed out, specifying that it is only redeemable for backup, general servicing, physical cleaning, reformatting, virus removal, and the installation of free antivirus software.
The voucher is transferable and valid until February. But the vouchers – which have a total value of €15,000 – seemingly violate a law that forbids the practice known as ‘treating’.
Electoral law defines ‘treating’ as the act of providing food, drink, entertainment, or other provisions before, during, or after an election for the purpose of corruptly influencing people’s votes.
Agius Saliba insists, however, that he broke no law and the vouchers were not an attempt to influence people’s voting intentions. He believes that one could apply the same reasoning to Peter Agius’ alleged figolli distribution on Easter Sunday.
Do you think that Alex Agius Saliba’s voucher distribution and Peter Agius’ handing out of figolli are comparable?
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