Pullicino Orlando fires a broadside at Busuttil over ‘bad taste’ comment on Mistra party
“I refuse to be judged by others whose primary concerns, when it comes to their political involvement, are manifested by their behaviour. Busuttil snubbed Gonzi when he offered him the post of secretary-general and chose instead to retain the lucrative position of MEP.”
Nationalist MP Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando yesterday hit back at MEP Simon Busuttil’s comment that the party he organised last Saturday on his land in Mistra – the controversial site that nearly cost the PN the elections in 2008 – had been “in bad taste”.
“It is the epitome of bad taste, and bad form, to unjustly criticise a colleague who is simply exercising his right to legitimately use his property,” Pullicino Orlando said when asked by MaltaToday to comment on Busuttil’s succinct observation, carried in an interview in yesterday’s edition.
Some 600 guests attended Pullicino Orlando’s party in honour of MEP candidate Alex Perici Calascione on Saturday night. But Perici Calascione himself could was not among them, after being hospitalised for a minor ailment.
The property in question had been the scandal of the 2008 general election when Labour leader Alfred Sant revealed in the final TVM debate that Pullicino Orlando was about to lease the area to be used as an open-air disco.
Pullicino Orlando has been in defiance mode ever since, and on Saturday morning he put in an appearance at a press conference by Alternattiva Demokratika – who protested the issue of a permit for the party – by standing on his land behind the boundary wall, sipping from a cup of tea.
Yesterday, the outspoken backbencher was clear in his appraisal of Busuttil’s opinion:
“It is in even greater bad taste when the criticism is levelled by someone who, by his own admission, puts his personal interests before those of his party.”
He was referring to Busuttil’s refusal to accept the post of PN secretary-general when asked by Lawrence Gonzi.
“I refuse to be judged by others whose primary concerns when it comes to their political involvement are manifested by their behaviour. Dr Busuttil himself admitted publicly, a few months ago, that he snubbed our Prime Minister, Dr Lawrence Gonzi, when he offered him the post of secretary-general and chose instead to retain the lucrative position of MEP.”
Pullicino Orlando, who has been distanced from the party since 2008’s events, and has meanwhile taken bold stands on immigration and the controversial Cathedral project in Valletta, said he was “proud to consider myself a loyal footsoldier of the Nationalist Party.”
“My main political concern over the 30 odd years I have been serving my party, first in the youth section of MZPN, then as a local councillor and, for the past 13 years, as a backbench MP has been to give my contribution to my party, my constituents and my country to the best of my ability.
“It is a well known fact that I have never done this in the hope of being given a particular post or to further myself personally. It is a publicly known fact that I actually refused the offer of a post of parliamentary secretary in the Ministry of Finance by Prime Minister Fenech Adami.”
Pullicino Orlando said he refused to be judged by Busuttil, who refused to serve a secretary-general to retain his MEP’s salary.
Bad memories Pullicino Orlando’s decision to hold an electoral party in Mistra has rekindled bad memories of the scandal which Alfred Sant had revealed, and nearly managed to tip the election to his favour.
The dentist, who had won favour among the PN’s top echelons for his standing within the environmental lobby, became embroiled in an explosive controversy during the election campaign after Labour revealed that he had leased his land in the Natura 2000 site for the development of Spin Valley, an open-air discotheque.
While Labour leader Alfred Sant milked the revelations before the 2008 election, the PN went into attack mode. They defended Pullicino Orlando publicly and even accompanied him to a Broadcasting Authority press conference for journalists with Sant, by issuing him with a temporary press card.
Although Pullicino Orlando claimed he had no knowledge of the lease of the land, Alfred Sant only revealed the private contract signed by Pullicino Orlando and the lessee of his land, on Thursday night during a debate between the two party leaders.
Gonzi emerged from the debate unscathed, as Sant’s fleeting reference to the contract, which he momentarily waved to the camera, was not emphasised enough by the Opposition leader.
And on the day of the broadcast on TVM, the mass meetings for both Labour and the PN at Luxol and Floriana were taking place. The timing was such that the deeply embarrassing revelation, which effectively outed Pullicino Orlando as having lied about his ignorance of the disco development in Mistra, could not be reported the next day by the press due to the silent day of reflection.
Perceived as one of the most promising candidates, Dr Pullicino Orlando was excluded from the new Cabinet appointed by Lawrence Gonzi, who claimed that he did not want to have a minister under investigation. Dr Pullicino Orlando said he understood the Prime Minister’s position at the time.
In the end, Pullicino Orlando’s antics – turning up to face Sant at his press conferences, standing in as a journalist at the BA press conference, and his tearjerker performance during a PN meeting – saw him returned to power from two electoral districts thanks to a massive sympathy vote from PN grassroots voters.
But his standing within the party has been dented ever since.
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