Labour MP Edward Zammit Lewis said the government shouldn’t get involved in issues related to the 5,000 or so Manoel Island bond holders.

Prime Minister Robert Abela has used these individual bond holders as an argument in favour of the project, but Zammit Lewis said the government shouldn’t be getting involved in private investments.

“While I can understand the concern by those who might have purchased bonds from the private sector, it certainly isn’t the government’s role to honour these bonds or provide some kind of guarantee,” he said.

“That’s how things operate in advanced countries with regulatory structures.”

“It is good to hear everyone out but if we go down this route, it will create an ugly precedent for all bond issuers. It is the obligation of the private entity that issued the bonds, according to the prospectus – which is a public document – to fulfil it based on the property mentioned in the prospectus and the commitments it undertook.”

“The government’s obligation is to implement its policies and manifesto, such as its environmental policy, and this should be done for the common good.”

The MP, who has already said that MIDI shouldn’t have issued bonds for its Manoel Island project in the first place, went on to call for an extensive regulatory examination into how bonds are issued.

“This should be done to safeguard our citizens who would have invested a lot of their life savings in these bonds,” he said.

“I am glad that PL President Alex Sciberras is also talking about this, and I look forward to an internal debate in the party.”