Prime Minister: Simon Busuttil Boasted About Having Egrant Documents Weeks Before Story Came Out
Prime Minister Jospeh Muscat has claimed former Opposition leader Simon Busuttil was privy to information about the Egrant story weeks before it was published by Daphne Caruana Galizia.
“A few weeks before the story came out, Busuttil told a number of people, separately and in private, that he had documents in hand to prove Egrant belongs to my wife,” Muscat said in an interview with ONE. “In one particular case, he asked a woman for her opinion on the government and she said that she thinks is doing a good job. Busuttil’s response was to tell her she was only saying that because she wasn’t aware what ‘we’ have in our hands and what will emerge in a few weeks’ time. Some of these people were Nationalists, but they told me about this themselves because they considered his comments extremely dangerous.”
Muscat added that the PN’s media were preparing to doorstep certain people on the morning of April 20th 2017, hours before Daphne Caruana Galizia published her story.
“Simon Busuttil was fully part of this coordinated effort but tried to put a smokescreen between himself and his story by insisting he was only quoting what others published online,” the Prime Minister said. “Yet his strategy was so transparent and he is now clearly worrying that his game is coming to an end and that his mask is slipping off.”
“Busuttil is making himself out to be some sort of brave knight on a white horse who lost a war but will continue fighting for righteousness. Yet we now know that he was actually riding a donkey and was more like Sancho Panza. His big mistake was when he didn’t commit to resigning if the magisterial inquiry found the story was false, as this indicted that he either knew it was a lie or was harbouring doubts about it.”
Muscat confirmed he had suspicions on who else was behind the story, but said he will reserve judgement until the police and the courts take action. He also reiterated his pledge to go against the advice of the Attorney General and publish magistrate Aaron Bugeja’s full inquiry into the allegations, but with parts blacked out to protect the identities of people who are completely unrelated to the story and to not make certain people aware that they are under police investigation.
He confirmed he was seeking justice, but kept his lips sealed on who could find themselves prosecuted and under what charges.
“I want justice to take its course, which means the police must be allowed to investigate and the Attorney General and the courts must be allowed to make their decisions. We must allow our institutions to work in full serenity or we will be playing into the hands of those who want to portray Malta as a country without rule of law.”
