Simon Busuttil Gives New Prime Minister Three ‘Tests’, Including The Prosecution Of Joseph Muscat For Corruption
Former PN leader Simon Busuttil has issued three ‘tests’ to Robert Abela, which he said the new Prime Minister must complete if he wants to show he means business about good governance.
“I agree with many of [Abela’s] first steps, such as leaving Konrad Mizzi out of his Cabinet, removing the police commissioner, removing Justyne Caruana when that story of her husband emerged and not removing the flowers [from the makeshift Valletta memorial to Daphne Caruana Galizia,” Busuttil said when interviewed on Xarabank last night. “However, he has yet to undergo a test, especially when you consider he was part of the PL group which unanimously supported Joseph Muscat, who ended up getting awarded as the most corrupt politician in the world.”
The former PN leader called on Abela to inform the acting police commissioner that he expects the police to prosecute former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, his former chief of staff Keith Schembri and former minister Konrad Mizzi for corruption.
Simon Busuttil said Joseph Muscat should be prosecuted for corruption (Photo from a 2017 Xarabank debate)
“He’s been Prime Minister for two weeks now and this doesn’t require much thought. Everyone knows these people were caught in corruption,” Busuttil said.
Busuttil also urged Abela to scrap the LNG power station contract, which he described as “corrupt from start to finish”, as well as the hospital contract to Steward Health Care and the sale-of-citizenship scheme.
Thirdly, he said the Prime Minister should sack people who prohibited the country’s institutions from functioning, specifically Attorney General Peter Grech and Finance Minister Edward Scicluna.
“The FIAU fell under his ministry but instead of ensuring that action was taken on their reports, he said they were written to be leaked,” Busuttil said of Scicluna. “He must shoulder responsibility. Its not enough for him to smile, he didn’t have the backbone as minister to say they’re doing wrong.”
Busuttil was recently appointed secretary-general of the European People’s Party Group in the European Parliament and, as a result, will step down as an MP from Malta’s Parliament.
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