Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/795987
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 8 MARCH 2017 4 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 De Marco renounced his brief hours after be- ing contacted by MaltaToday to confirm that he had personally at- tended meetings with the govern- ment's legal representative, Alex Sciberras, within the Castille of- fices of minister without portfolio Konrad Mizzi. Busuttil said that he had long been aware of de Marco's role as Debono's lawyer, but that a conflict of interest only arose last weekend after the PN decided to ask the Na- tional Audit Office to investigate the hotelier's project. This is despite the fact that the PN had long been critical of the ITS deal, which will see Debono fork- ing out only €15 million for public land that has been valued at €200 million. The deal was debated in a parliamentary sitting last month for which de Marco absented him- self. However, de Marco told Malta- Today that he had seen a potential conflict of interest from years be- fore – and that he had indeed in- formed Busuttil that his firm was legal advisor to the DB Group both before and after a call for expres- sions of interest was issued in late 2015 for the Pembroke ITS site. Moreover, de Marco confirmed that he had excused himself from shadow cabinet discussions on Debono's projects because he felt he could have a conflict of interest. "Having declared that GDMA were legal advisors to the DB Group, I felt that I should not be present for the discussion on the subject or participate in any deci- sion on the matter," he said. "That way, the party organs could hold their discussions and take their de- cisions in the freest way possible. "I was also absent from the par- liamentary group discussion on the matter last Wednesday, although that was because I was in the UK doing MRIs. Were I in Malta, I would have also excused myself for the same reason." MaltaToday is also informed that de Marco had not attended a meet- ing between Silvio Debono and Busuttil a few weeks ago, during which the hotelier showed the Op- position leader a presentation of his plans for the ITS project. The PN last weekend was en- gulfed in controversy after Debono claimed that he has been paying the salaries of PN secretary general Rosette Thake and CEO Brian St John. Busuttil has denied this and claimed that Debono is attempting to threaten and silence him after the PN referred the land deal to the Auditor General. Yesterday evening, Labour's me- dia claimed that despite saying that he wants to change the system he inherited it was Busuttil himself who in 2013 met and personally asked Silvio Debono to fork out the money to cover the wages of the party's secretary-general, a post then occupied by Chris Said. Labour claimed that it has evi- dence that it was Busuttil who personally requested the meeting with Debono a few weeks after be- coming leader in May 2013 when the party's finances were in a dire situation. A year later, Labour alleged, Bu- suttil requested another meeting with Debono, this time to ask the entrepreneur to pay for the wages of Brian St John who in October 2014 was appointed as CEO of the party's commercial entity, Media. link Communications. The PN leader yesterday also an- nounced that he would set up an independent commission spear- headed by former judge Giovanni Bonello to come up with "radical" proposals to change the way in which political parties and politi- cians are financed. He pledged that he would include all of the commission's proposals in the PN's upcoming electoral mani- festo, no matter what they are. News Labour claims Busuttil made payment requests The PN appointed former judge Giovanni Bonello to come up with proposals to change party financing rules 8,821 reported robberies in Malta last year POLICE received 8,821 reports of theft last year, a four-year high, information tabled in Parliament shows. The data, tabled by home af- fairs minister Carmelo Abela in response to a parliamentary question by PN deputy leader Beppe Fenech Adami, shows that pickpocketing cases have continued to spike in recent years. Indeed, 2,447 such cases were reported to the police in 2016, compared to 2,030 in 2016, 1,538 in 2014 and 1,469 in 2013. There were also 1,504 reports of thefts from vehicles, 718 re- ports of thefts from bars and restaurants, and 420 reports of robberies from streets and public areas. There were also 182 shop- lifting cases, 552 break-ins into residences, 86 robberies from vacant properties, 179 snatch- and-grab cases, and 55 mug- ging incidents.