WATCH: Joseph Muscat Plays Down Reinstatement Of Fisheries Director: ‘Not A Single Adverse Comment In Her File’
Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has insisted that Fisheries Director Andreina Fenech Farrugia was suspended due to the publication of confirmed telephone transcripts, rather than on the basis of a news report.
Despite Spanish and Maltese investigative authorities flagging similar concerns last October after 79 people were arrested as part of the Operation, Muscat stressed the government was not privy to such information.
The PM and the government’s tough stance on the matter may seem puzzling to some, given the lack of inaction with regards to Keith Schembri and Konrad Mizzi.
Andreina Fenech Farrugia: Photo: Icam Studios
‘Not one adverse comment in her file’
Given that Fenech Farrugia was reinstatement to the post during the Labour Party’s first legislature, Muscat was asked whether his government should shoulder political responsibility.
Muscat, however, deflected, instead stressing that the word “reinstated” implied that Fenech Farrugia was removed due to foul play when there was no evidence of such or “adverse comment” in her file.
The PM added that Fenech Farrugia was not necessarily removed but transferred to a similar role, with the same financial package at the Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority (MCCAA).
“We then decided to put her back in her original sector,” he said.
‘Malta mentioned in a negative light for taking action’
He was also asked to clarify statements made by Fenech Farrugia that she was being “singled out in an investigation which concerns tens if not hundreds of individuals, entities or companies, possibly even local ones.”
Muscat said that Malta was being mentioned in a negative light “because it was taking action.” He further explained that he was “more concerned with regards to operators, which in this case is a foreign operator.”
“Malta has nothing to do with investigations. Out of the countries that collaborated on this pan-European level, Malta is the only country who has taken action,” he said.
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