Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1369939
2 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 9 MAY 2021 NEWS Delivery fee of just €1 per day for orders up to 5 newspapers per address To subscribe 1. Email us your choice of newspapers, recipient's name, address, contact number to production @millermalta.com 2. Forward cheques payable to Miller Distributors Ltd on address: Miller House, Airport Way, Tarxien Road, Luqa LQA1814 Queries on other news- papers and magazines, production@ millermalta.com maltatoday Same-day delivery of your favourite Sunday newspaper Monday-Friday MaltaToday Midweek • €1 BusinessToday • €1.50 Sunday MaltaToday • €1.95 ILLUM • €1.25 Support your favourite newspaper with a subscription https://bit.ly/2X9csmr Cases 30,307 Active 270 Recoveries 29,522 Deaths 415 Vaccines 335,848 LATEST COVID-19 www.maltatoday.com.mt/covid19 Grech threatened MPs with expulsion CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Both MPs faced a threat of expulsion in a PN executive committee meeting that did not take place, but was part of Bernard Grech's heavy-hand- ed approach to get his two warring MPs to get off each other's back. According to sources who spoke to MaltaToday, Grech placed both MPs under huge duress, including Azzopardi, who played a central role last year in mounting the chal- lenge to Delia's leadership. A source close to Azzopardi said the MP was left speech- less under the weight of accu- sations from Grech, who was accompanied by party aide Ray Bezzina. "He was told that he erred in posting the libel victory against Vincent Borg," sources close to the MP said. Azzopar- di's defamation case against Borg, a canvasser of Delia, was what provoked Delia's litany of accusations against Azzopardi in the first place, prompting Grech to call for a PN execu- tive meeting. But Grech's approach to the matter was instantly derided by MPs close to both Delia and Azzopardi, who saw the Face- book spat as not worthy of a meeting with the entire parlia- mentary group. A source close to Delia said the former leader felt that both MPs were judged by the same yardstick. "Azzopardi has been mounting a whispering cam- paign against Delia for the last year and yet nothing ever came of it. He had to either put out or shut up – Grech told him as much." Another source close to Az- zopardi confirmed that the PN leader was putting the MP under pressure, even though his closest allies in the par- liamentary group and in the executive were quick to make it clear that Grech would not have the numbers to move against Azzopardi. Grech was said to have been unmoved when Azzopardi ex- plained his suspicions of De- lia, referring to chats he had with Tumas magnate Yorgen Fenech after it was known he owned the Panamagate com- pany 17 Black; and of the money pledged to the PN by Fenech in a bid to thwart Da- vid Casa's re-election bid for Europe. "Grech accused Azzopardi of having raised expectations 'unnecessarily' because the al- legations bandied about have never led to anything," said a source close to Azzopard. "He also ignored Azzopardi's protestations about what var- ious magisterial inquiries he had kick-started with Simon Busuttil had achieved... he simply brushed it aside." Both sources close to the two MPs told MaltaToday that Grech had referred to the MPs' feud as "a millstone around the PN's neck". Grech was also heard telling Delia that his Facebook post, in which he reminded the pub- lic of the bad blood inside the PN between his faction and that allied to former PN leader Simon Busuttil, had "messed up the polls". Delia was said to have insist- ed that if a party motion was brought up against him in the evening's executive committee meeting, he would pursue his allegations against Azzopar- di "in all avenues available to him". Grech attempted to convince Delia to stop attacking Azzo- pardi, but Delia countered that he "had been quiet for too long and would no longer stand for Azzopardi's provocations". A couple of hours later, Delia was approached and the no- tion of a joint reconciliatory statement with Azzopardi was floated. The sources said Delia in- sisted he would only accept such a statement if it included Azzopardi's recanting the ma- jor allegations he had raised about him. They claimed De- lia actually supplied much of the wording in the statement himself. At no point in the statement does Delia apologise for the accusations raised in his Face- book post which triggered the entire incident. pcocks@mediatoday.com.mt