Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/795987
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 8 MARCH 2017 5 News Fearne says not all politicians 'are like Busuttil' YANNICK PACE THE past few days have been particularly upsetting for those who believe in "honest" politics, including "genuine" Nationalist Party supporters, health minister Chris Fearne said yesterday. He said that while the PN's and its leader Simon Busuttil's mask had fallen, it was important to remember that not all politicians are the same. "We're not all like Simon Bu- suttil," he said. "He has spent the last few years building a platform based on good governance, and people who actually believed him were disappointed as it all came crashing down." Fearne was speaking at a press conference at the Labour Party's headquarters in the wake of the controversy sparked by hotelier Silvio Debono's claim that he has been forking out the monthly sal- aries of the PN's secretary general Rosette Thake and CEO Brian St John. Busuttil has denied the al- legations. However, Fearne accused the PN of asking private businesses to pay their officials' salaries and questioned whether there were other similar salaries being paid for by businessmen. Fearne said that there are three main points that are crucial to understand: That Debono's DB group paid the PN more than €77,000 in one year, that the group itself said that this pay- ment was not for any services ren- dered, and that Busuttil had been aware of deputy leader Mario de Marco's position as DB's legal ad- visor for months. Civil liberties minister Helena Dalli said that after Busuttil spent years trying to convince the nation that he was a new leader leading a reformed party, the last few days had confirmed that the PN has not changed at all. "Busuttil has proved that he is still part of the old regime," she said. She added that it makes no sense for Busuttil to campaign on the basis of good governance while at the same time making requests to businessmen to pay the salaries of party officials. Asked about how both min- isters felt they could question Busuttil when the government still included a minister who was caught with a Panamanian com- pany, Fearne said that Konrad Mizzi had subjected himself to a tax audit, something other MPs were not willing to do. Moreover, he said, in this case the controversy surrounds the party leader, which makes it even more concerning. Muscat: 'PN's financing system resembles money laundering' CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 In his Q&A session, Muscat accused Opposition leader Simon Busut- til of having personally requested hotelier Silvio Debono to cover the salaries of the PN's secretary general and CEO. He urged the Electoral Com- missioner to investigate what could amount to fraud and money laundering, arguing that the PN's media arm MediaLink had is- sued false invoices that Debono had paid €70,000 for advertising space when he had actually paid to bankroll the salaries of the PN's secretary general, Rosette Thake, and CEO Brian St John. "Busuttil was being politically false when he said that he inher- ited this mess. No, he made this mess all by himself. He had four years to arrange it, but instead he introduced a system of false invoices to cover the salaries of PN officials, as well as the Cedoli scheme that served to bypass the new party financing law." He dismissed Busuttil's an- nouncement that he would set up an independent commission to come up with proposals on party financing for the PN to include in its next electoral manifesto. "Busuttil is only saying that he wants reform after he was caught with his hands in the cookie jar," Muscat said. "This is similar to how the previous Cabinet had given itself a €500 pay-rise but de- cided to return the money after it was exposed. "We are not perfect, but we have never preached about perfection as Simon Busuttil has. The pub- lic is wise enough to realize that Busuttil has now betrayed their trust." tdiacono@mediatoday.com.mt Helena Dalli and Chris Fearne