Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1264355
5 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 28 JUNE 2020 NEWS Opera onal Programme I – European Structural and Investment Funds 2014-2020 "Fostering a compe ve and sustainable economy to meet our challenges" Project part-financed by the Cohesion Fund Co-financing rate: 85% European Union Funds; 15% Na onal Funds WE'RE USING MORE WATER THESE DAYS. HERE'S HOW TO SAVE SOME WATER AT THE SAME TIME: WASH YOUR PETS IN A LARGE BATH. KEEP THE WATER FROM YOUR LAST RINSE AND USE IT TO WATER YOUR PLANTS! Visit www.water.org.mt for more water saving tips MATTHEW VELLA THE disgraced former minister Konrad Mizzi (pictured), who was this week sacked from the Labour parliamentary group, is refusing to make a clean break from his former party. In a letter to the Speaker of the House yesterday, Mizzi said that while he will no longer form part of the Labour backbench, he would still be showing loyalty to the Labour group as an inde- pendent MP. Mizzi retains his seat in the House since although being ex- pelled from the PL parliamen- tary group by the Labour Party national executive, he only loses his party membership. Maltese MPs are directly elected by con- stituents and parties do not de- termine who keeps their seat or not. "I will keep propping up La- bour's efforts," he told Speaker Anglu Farrugia in his letter. "It is my aim to keep giving my con- tribution to the country's eco- nomic development, and I will keep giving my political contri- bution to be the voice of my con- stituents." The fourth district MP, once billed as Labour's 'star' candi- date when in 2013 he promoted the party's successful shift from heavy fuel oil to LNG for Malta's energy supply, soon fell into dis- repute when he was outed in the Panama Papers in 2016. Today, the association of Pana- ma with Yorgen Fenech's Dubai company 17 Black has shed light on the incestuous relationship between high officials of the Labour government, and the alleged mastermind of the as- sassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia. The latest scandal, an inflat- ed acquisition of a Montenegro wind farm through an offshore company financed by a loan from 17 Black, pushed Labour to expel the former energy minister Konrad Mizzi from the party. His insistence to stay on as an independent MP loyal to La- bour signals Mizzi's intent to retain some form of constituent support on the fourth district, where Labour deputy leader and deputy prime minister Chris Fearne holds sway. In 2017, Fearne pipped Mizzi by a few votes to become the fourth dis- trict leader. Mizzi can now be expected to use his limited time in the House to prop up a defence against var- ious allegations on the scandals he presided over, and to Robert Abela's chagrin, a lightning rod for more controversy. 'I'll be loyal to Labour', Mizzi tells Speaker THE SKINNY • Konrad Mizzi, kicking and screaming MT2