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MW 26 April 2017

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WWW.MALTATODAY.COM.MT WEDNESDAY EDITION €1.00 Newspaper post PAGE 9 • Editorial WEDNESDAY • 26 APRIL 2017 • ISSUE 519 • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY PAGE 4 PAGE 5 Greens to discuss PN coalition offer TIM DIACONO ALTERNATTIVA Demokra- tika will hold internal talks to discuss whether to accept the Nationalist Party's request for a meeting to trash out the terms of a potential pre-electoral coali- tion. PN deputy leader Mario de Marco confirmed with Malta- Today that he called the Green Party's deputy leader Carmel Cacopardo to propose a meeting between themselves and their parties' respective leaders. "It is premature to comment further at this stage, but I have a lot of respect for AD as a party and I think they've done a lot for this country. If a coalition could happen, then that would be great. We need to present a common front [in the upcoming election]," de Marco said. Cacopardo told MaltaToday that AD will hold an internal meeting to debate whether to accept De Marco's request for a leaders' meeting. "As of this stage, we just spoke over the phone and nothing has been agreed." He refused to entertain ques- tions on whether a coalition could boost AD's electoral chances, arguing that such issues will be discussed at their upcom- ing meeting. Opposition leader Simon Bu- suttil has repeatedly called for a "national coalition" against cor- ruption and the PN yesterday launched a website www.for- zanazzjonali.com. PN accuses Keith Schembri of receiving passport kickbacks Opposition leader Simon Busuttil says he has evidence which he will be presenting to Magistrate Aaron Bugeja PN leader calls for immediate arrest of Keith Schembri Prime Minister's Chief of Staff claims transactions were repayment of a loan he gave Nexia BT chief Brian Tonna in 2012 PAUL COCKS OPPOSITION leader Simon Busuttil yesterday accused the Prime Minister's chief of staff, Keith Schembri, of having received kickbacks on the sale of Maltese passports through the offices of auditor Brian Tonna. Addressing a press conference late last night, Bu- suttil said he was shouldering responsibility for what he was revealing and said that he had all the proof needed to sustain his allegations. He called for the immediate arrest of Schembri, asking for Schembri to be interrogated and be ar- raigned on criminal charges, which involve money laundering and corruption. "I know that this is dramatic and serious. What I'm saying is the truth. I am shouldering responsi- bility for what I'm saying and I have the evidence. Tomorrow morning, I will present this information to Magistrate Aaron Bugeja and make myself avail- able to testify under oath as part of the inquiry he is leading." Busuttil claimed he had received his information from a separate source to that of blogger and The Malta Independent columnist Daphne Caruana Galizia, who posted the allegations earlier in the day and who had originally claimed in May 2016 that Tonna was receiving money in a Pilatus Bank account. He said that Tonna had received €166,831.90 – in an account he owns under the name of Willerby Trading Inc. – in fees for the sale of passports to three Russian individuals, and then made two trans- fers of €50,000 each to a bank account held by Keith Schembri through their respective bank accounts at Pilatus Bank. "We can now confirm what we have long been sus- pecting," Busuttil said. "On Xarabank last Friday, I asked Muscat if his chief of staff held an account with Pilatus Bank, but he refused to answer, as he did when asked afterwards by the media." Simon Busuttil

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