Former Labour Party MP Maria Camilleri, who helped author a book commemorating Joseph Muscat’s 10 years as party leader, has called on the party to apologise in the wake of recent scandals. 

“The party must apologise for anyone who used the Labour Party to build an empire to thicken their pockets,” Camilleri wrote on social media.

Camilleri was a key figure in Muscat’s ascent to the top of Maltese politics. She had initially been sidelined by the party in 1998 after it lost re-election after only 22 months in office.

Camilleri was touted as forming part of the Dom Mintoff clan at the time when the former Labour leader had problems with Alfred Sant, then Prime Minister,

That changed once Muscat took office – and was even offered the opportunity to contest in the 2009 European Parliament Elections.

Camilleri was even among those shortlisted to be appointed Malta’s President in 2014. It eventually went to Marie Louise Coleiro Preca.

Coleiro Preca is another key Labour Party figure who has called on the party to apologise.

Their comments come following the arrest and charge of Keith Schembri, the former OPM chief of staff, with corruption and money laundering. Meanwhile, it has also been revealed that the owner of secret company Macbriidge, which linked to Schembri and Konrad Mizzi’s offshore accounts, is the Chinese negotiator on multimillion-euro deals involving Enemalta.

Prime Minister Robert Abela, who is also the leader of the Labour Party, has so far distanced himself from his predecessor Joseph Muscat. telling journalists that the former Prime Minister is no longer part of the government. However, he stopped short of disavowing him from the party entirely.