PN Leadership Favourite Takes On DCG Ahead Of Debate
Ahead of tonight’s PN leaders debate, leadership favourite Adrian Delia has aimed fire at journalist-blogger Daphne Caruana Galizia, suing her for libel and accusing her of building up a false story that he owns an offshore bank account in Jersey.
“This writer is once again trying to set the agenda in the middle of an election campaign and is now spinning stories against me without any proof whatsoever so as to plant doubt in the minds of people who will vote in this election,” he told the press after filing a libel suit against Caruana Galizia. “This is pure journalistic dishonesty….I challenge her to bring whatever proof she has to court today.”
It is a stunning scenario few would have envisaged a few months ago, when Caruana Galizia was the darling of the Nationalist Party and when her blogs claiming the Prime Minister’s wife owns an offshore company spurred the PN into organising a large-scale protest.
Yet Caruana Galizia’s main focus in recent days has not been on Labour, but rather on Adrian Delia – a lawyer and former Birkirkara FC president with very little political experience, whose campaign pledging a “new way” in politics has found support among many PN supporters.
Indeed, Nationalist MP Hermann Schiavone, who is backing Delia, recently quoted a survey saying 71% of PN members plan to vote for Delia in the upcoming election.
Daphne Caruana Galizia has been a harsh critic of Adrian Delia
After a series of articles targeting Delia, Caruana Galizia went all out against him last night, accusing him of lying to the public about not owning a foreign bank account, reporting he has an account with Barclays International in Jersey and publishing his account number.
Three hours later, at 1:30am, Delia issued a statement, insisting he has never held money overseas and pledging to sue Caruana Galizia for libel.
While Delia was delivering his press conference outside the law courts, Caruana Galizia published another blogpost, this time claiming £1 million from prostitution in London was processed through his Jersey bank account over three or four years.
If true, the story has created a bizarre situation whereby a party who used the Panama Papers scandal as its election battlecry now faces the real prospect of being led by a man who himself concealed an offshore bank account.
What do you make of this developing story? Let us know in the comments below
READ NEXT: Franco Debono Loses His Shit In Facebook Rampage Against Adrian Delia
