Jason Azzopardi Calls Out Bernard Grech For Not Crediting Him For Anti-Corruption Bills
Former PN MP Jason Azzopardi has taken another dig at Bernard Grech, warning the Opposition Leader failed to adequately credit him for his work on a package of anti-corruption bills.
“I wrote these 12 bills by myself and it took 14 months of my life to carry out research and write them,” Azzopardi said today.
“They were presented in Parliament last January in the name of the Opposition, although I was never given credit or even mentioned a single time by those who prefer taking selfies with figolli and qagħaq tal-appostli.”
He confirmed with Lovin Malta that this was a reference to several newly-elected PN MPs who Grech had pushed during the election campaign.
The anti-corruption package included the introduction of unexplained wealth orders, the specific criminalisation of organised crime, abuse of authority, dereliction of duty, obstruction of justice, establishing a magistrate’s office focused fully on investigating corruption, and forbidding public officers from carrying out their government duties via private email, WhatsApp, Signal Messenger or other forms of private communication.
Grech often spoke about these bills, hailing them as “historic” pieces of legislation that would implement the recommendations of the Daphne Caruana Galizia public inquiry and help Malta get off the FATF grey list.
However, the government voted against them.
This is the latest stab Azzopardi has taken at Grech since the end of the general election, when he didn’t get re-elected to Parliament for the first time in 24 years.
Earlier this month, he claimed Grech ordered him last year not to get involved in a constitutional court case that the NGO Repubblika had filed against the ElectroGas power station. Grech has disputed Azzopardi’s version of events.
Over the weekend, Grech will face a vote among PN councillors to be re-confirmed as party leader and is hoping for a strong mandate.
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