Jason Azzopardi Defiant On Swearing Claims And Will Call Yorgen Fenech, Diane Izzo, Joseph Muscat, And Keith Schembri To Testify
Nationalist MP Jason Azzopardi is refusing to back down in a dispute with Labour MP Rosianne Cutajar, despite a ruling by the Speaker of the House finding him in breach of parliamentary privilege.
“I retract nothing. NOTHING. Because it is the truth,” Azzopardi said in a Facebook post shortly after the ruling was delivered.
“I am so convinced that I am in the right that I won’t even be appealing the ruling, as I have a right to do and I will be informing the House. Now it is up to the government to appoint the privileges committee”
Yesterday, Cutajar requested a ruling from the Speaker after Azzopardi uploaded a Facebook post in which he claimed that the Labour MP had sworn at him in Parliament.
In a ruling delivered this morning, the Speaker found that Azzopardi’s post did in fact amount to a breach of privilege, ordering the PN MP to delete the post and retract the comment in the next sitting.
Should this not happen, the case will be discussed by Parliament’s privileges committee.
Rather than retract his comments, it appears that Azzopardi is doubling down, urging for his case to be sent before the committee as soon as possible.
“I will be calling Yorgen Fenech, Diane Izzo, Edward Zammit Lewis, Keith Schembri, Joseph Muscat, Marion Mizzi, Charles Farrugia, FCID officials, the CID, Mark Camilleri and third parties who can testify about the luxury gifts she received,” the PN MP said.
“Rosianne: you’ve walked right into it.”
What do you make of the Speaker’s decision?
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