Updated 3.30pm with PN reaction
Parliamentary secretary for planning Deborah Schembri today accused Opposition leader Simon Busuttil of lying in order to cover up for deputy leader Mario de Marco.
Addressing a PL press conference, Dr Schembri said Dr Busuttil had lied when he said Dr de Marco published the invoices related to the works carried out on his house by contractor Pierre Sladden.
The PL had accused Dr de Marco of accepting the €34,000 worth of construction works as a gift from Mr Sladden, who had been mentioned in the Panama Papers.
No such invoices had been published, Dr Schembri said.
“Simon Busuttil is in panic. He cannot answer questions so he has resorted to lying. This when he always pretends to be the paladin of the truth,” Dr Schembri said.
Dr Schembri said publication of the invoices alone would not be enough, as Dr de Marco would also have to provide documented proof that he had actively chased Mr Sladden for these invoices over the five-year period during which the works were carried out.
Dr de Marco has repeatedly denied works carried out by Mr Sladden were meant as a gift insisting that the contractor’s reply when asked for invoices was always that the bill would be presented once the works were completed.
Tourism Minister Edward Zammit Lewis said Dr Busuttil is confused and incapable of taking a decision.
He said Dr Busuttil expects high standards from the government, yet does not apply these same standards to the Opposition.
Asked if he intends to contest the PL deputy leadership post vacated by Konrad Mizzi, Dr Zammit Lewis said he would take a decision in the coming days.
The Nationalist Party accused the Labour Party of embarking on a desperate attack on PN officials to hide its lies over the Panama scandal.
In a statement, it said Dr de Marco paid in the full for the works carried out on his house and the bill was not for works carried out in 2011 but for works carried out between 2011 and 2015.
“If Labour is so obsessed with invoices, then it can start by publishing Muscat’s invoices for his recent holiday to Dubai and for works on his Burmarrad house for which a permit was issued in record time under a Labour government.”