Matthew Vella Nationalist MP Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando has stated that former PN secretary-general Joe Saliba “knew exactly” that Labour leader Alfred Sant was about to launch a scathing attack on him during the 2008 election campaign.
Pullicino Orlando posted his comment on a blogpost by columnist Daphne Caruana Galizia, who reproduced an interview given by Saliba back in June 2008.
In that interview, Saliba claimed Joseph Muscat had given “indirect hints” at political activities that enabled the PN to deduce that Labour was about to reveal details of the controversial permit. The permit was for an open-air disco on land owned by Pullicino Orlando in Mistra, an EU-protected area.
Reacting to the blogpost, Pullicino Orlando declared that Saliba had known of the impending scandal.
“Joe was lying… He didn’t only ‘guess’ I was going to be attacked. He knew exactly what I was going to be attacked about… he sent me chasing after Sant prepared to rebut any allegation he might make about the Mistra ‘scandal’.
“Hence he got me to write that famous article which appeared in the Times on 1/3/08 entitled ‘Street Corner Gossip’ which anticipated Sant’s attack and neutralised it somewhat. One asks: why did Joe lie about how they were forewarned?”
Pullicino Orlando has already claimed the details of the Mistra story were leaked to Labour from his own party, and that this is the subject of an internal inquiry.
The MP has been keen to point out how he was sidelined by the PN after the election, despite setting up a veritable defence against Sant’s accusations and then being elected on two districts.
Contacted by MaltaToday, Joe Saliba said he would not comment and declined to react to Pullicino Orlando’s statement.
But Jason Micallef, the former Labour secretary-general who was the first to get the details on the Mistra permit, yesterday told this newspaper that the Labour Party’s source was not a PN official.
Micallef also reconfirmed previous statements that the contract signed by Pullicino Orlando for the rental of his land, arrived in Labour’s hands too late in the day – the contract was revealed by Sant during the Broadcasting Authority electoral debate against Lawrence Gonzi and then was not picked up by the press the day after, the so-called “day of reflection”.
Accusations In the aftermath of the recent acquittal of two planning authority members who were charged with trading in influence for issuing the Mistra permit, Pullicino Orlando has claimed it was “certain elements” from his political spectrum that fed “misinformation” to the media and whipped up a public outcry.
Pullicino Orlando also claims “a high-ranking Cabinet minister” told him the two planning authority members were charged in court to satisfy the outrage generated by Mistra-gate.
The MP claims he was “used” by the PN to face off Alfred Sant by upstaging the Labour leader when he challenged him to answer his questions in a Broadcasting Authority press conference at the PBS studios.
Pullicino Orlando has said that after Sant walked out of the studios, Saliba and other party officials declared that “Jeffrey won us the election today.”
But after the PN’s victory, Pullicino Orlando says “a movement from within” the party tried to hound him by turning public opinion against him.
The MP now says it was people in his party that leaked the Mistra story to Labour.
This allegation is the centre of an internal inquiry, launched by Gonzi back in February, to verify accusations that the leak came from inside the PN.
Any comments?
If you wish your comments to be published in our Letters pages please click button below. Please write a contact number and a postal address where you may be contacted.
Search:
MALTATODAY
BUSINESSTODAY
Download MaltaToday Sunday issue front page in pdf file format
All the interviews from Reporter on MaltaToday's YouTube channel.
