Mountain out of a mole-hill? Prime Minister orders internal PN inquiry to find out who leaked the sensitive Mistra story to Labour before the March 2008 election
Matthew Vella
The Prime Minister ordered an internal party inquiry into the leak of Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando’s rental contract to outside sources, this newspaper has learnt.
Lawrence Gonzi launched the inquiry back in February, to verify accusations that details of the Mistra story – the rental of Pullicino Orlando’s land to develop an open-air discotheque – were leaked to the Labour party from inside the PN.
Details of the inquiry, its aims and how it is being conducted, are believed to be in the hands of PN secretary-general Paul Borg Olivier.
The timing of the inquiry coincides with the opposition mounted by Pullicino Orlando on the controversial extension of the St John’s Cathedral back in February.
But it remains unclear what the inquiry has established seven months later, and what it could possibly conclude.
Details of how a permit was issued by the planning authority’s DCC (development control commission) for an open-air disco in Mistra, which was an EU-protected Natura 2000 site, were broken by Labour leader Alfred Sant in the final weeks of the 2008 general election.
The prime minister’s decision to launch the internal inquiry has now lent credence to accusations by Pullicino Orlando that ‘Mistra-gate’ was an inside job.
MaltaToday understands the inquiry will turn out to be a sham unless it finds a mole who passed on details of the Mistra rental contract, to Alfred Sant or somebody within the Labour party.
Even then, the party is not expected to conduct a public indictment of anybody reasonably suspected of passing on the controversial information.
And if the inquiry turns out to be an internal witch-hunt, the PN would have to face the prospect that it had nearly jeopardised its own chances at winning the general elections.
Behind the façade of the inquiry, it appears Gonzi was intent back in February to placate the rebellious Pullicino Orlando in his opposition to the St John’s Cathedral underground extension.
The earmarking of European Union funds for the extension – vehemently opposed by conservationist NGOs – found support in Pullicino Orlando, who spearheaded internal party opposition against the project.
The project was later not included in the list of EU projects being proposed by the Office of the Prime Minister, due to the public outcry.
Pullicino Orlando last Sunday told this newspaper that the outcry over Mistra “was whipped up by certain elements in the media that were fed misinformation by certain elements who are supposedly on my side of the political spectrum.”
He also claimed TV presenter Lou Bondì used two programmes on the Mistra affair to “suit the ends of the people” who “steered” a misinformation campaign against him.
Bondì has reacted to this claim saying he gave the MP every opportunity to answer questions, even accepting his request to be alone in the studio of Bondiplus.
Pullicino Orlando has mentioned no names on who orchestrated the alleged campaign, but claims “a high-ranking Cabinet minister” said two planning authority members were tried in court to satisfy the public outcry.
The two members, former DCC chairman Philip Azzopardi and Anthony Mifsud, were acquitted last week of charges of trading in influence. They had held meetings inside MEPA with Pullicino Orlando to discuss the permit and formed part of the DCC that issued the permit for the development of the disco.
But the permit was deemed to have been illegal by the MEPA auditor Joe Falzon, and was later revoked by the MEPA board, unanimously, on the grounds that the decision to approve the project was illegal given that the land in question is an EU-protected site.
When details of the Mistra permit were broken by Alfred Sant, Pullicino Orlando mounted an impressive defence, namely by challenging Sant to face his questions in a Broadcasting Authority press conference for journalists.
But Pullicino was still re-elected to parliament from two districts, a feat that was publicly acknowledged by the PN’s former secretary-general Joe Saliba.
Pullicino Orlando still faced internal pressure to resign, but instead of bowing down he consolidated his backbencher’s role with his public disagreement on matters of government policy.
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