Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/710370
2 maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 3 AUGUST 2016 News Government says Galdes resigned for private sector job CONTINUES FROM PAGE 1 The Fi- nance Ministry was officially informed of Dr Manfred Galdes' resignation as Director FIAU by the Attorney General acting in his capacity as Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit. In a statement to this newspa- per, the finance ministry said it was not aware of any reasons sur- rounding his resignation. "The Finance Ministry was officially informed of Dr Manfred Galdes' resignation as director FIAU by the Attorney General acting in his capacity as Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit. The ministry is informed that Dr Galdes resigned his post at the FIAU to take up a post in private practice." On its part, the Office of the Prime Minister said that the government was only informed of the resignation of Galdes upon receipt of the letter of res- ignation by the FIAU governors' board. "Mr Galdes resigned after ac- cepting an offer from the private sector. He gave no such reason for resigning as alleged by the Nationalist Party and those like- ly allies it uses to hide behind. One understands that Mr Galdes would have brought any such is- sue to his superiors' attention." The government said it would not interfere in any independent institution's work. "If the Opposition leader is suggesting that the government inteferes in these institutions, or has doubts on the Attorney General, who chairs the FIAU, he should make these doubts public." In a counter-reply, the PN said the Prime Minister had not an- swered any of the questions put to him, and demanded to know whether the FIAU investigations into money laundering related to Panama Papers had indeed been concluded. "These are questions whose answers the Maltese peo- ple have a right to know. Instead of being stubborn on the wrong decisions he took on the Panama scandal, Muscat must stop dam- aging our country's reputation." PN warns Libyan medical visa racket has risked national security PAUL COCKS A medical visa racket for Libyan nationals has placed Malta's na- tional security at risk, and is fur- ther proof that the Labour gov- ernment was being held hostage to corruption, the Nationalist Party has warned. Neville Gafa, a civil servant at the Health Ministry, alleg- edly charged Libyans a €2,500 monthly fee to secure medical visas, treatment and accommo- dation, as well as an additional €100 charge. He was allegedly handed around 42 Libyan pass- ports to apply for medical visas, pocketing a tidy €38,000 in the process. PN deputy leader Beppe Fene- ch Adami told a press confer- ence that the scandal has its roots in Castille, arguing that Gafa is very close to Prime Min- ister Joseph Muscat, his chief of staff Keith Schembri and OPM minister Konrad Mizzi. "The arrogance on show by top government officials is limit- less, and indeed Gafa's reaction to the scandal was to attack the Nationalist party and to praise Muscat and his clique at Cas- tille." "One would expect the minis- ter concerned and the govern- ment to react to these reports and take immediate action," Fenech Adami said. "But we have a prime minister hostage to one of his ministers and his chief of staff, and that same minister is now hostage to one of his staff." This was a perfect case of birds of a feather f locking together, he added. "Even more so, this is a case of normalisation of deviant behav- iour, where someone involved in such a scandal, goes on with his life as if nothing had happened." The Times reported yesterday that the police searched Gafa's office at the Health Ministry. In a statement, the Labour Party said the opposition in- sisted on trying to act the part of prosecutor, jury and judge, but – because it had no credibility – it was not being taken seriously. Labour noted that the opposi- tion was being aggressive on al- legations that had already been denied by the person involved and which the police and attor- ney general were still investigat- ing. At the same time, the oppo- sition did not act about its MP Tony Bezzina, who had been found guilty of having sent gov- ernment workers to work at the PN club in Zurrieq and had then forced them to lie under oath, it said. Nor had the opposition cen- sured Nationalist MP Chris Said, who was criticised by the auditor general for undue in- terference in the allocation of funds for local councils, the PL said. It also referred to the deci- sion by the Nationalist Party to reinstate Samuel Azzopardi as mayor of Victoria, after a court had found him guilty of perilous driving while under the inf lu- ence of alcohol. Labour accused opposition leader Simon Busuttil of double standards and said that never before in its history had the Na- tionalist party stooped so low. SUBSCRIBE FOR FREE TO RECEIVE BREAKING NEWS Go to www.maltatoday.com.mt and get SMS alerts PN deputy leader Beppe Fenech Adami (right) and election candidate Amanda Abela (left) addressing the press conference PHOTOGRAPHY BY: CHRIS MANGION