Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/826731
3 maltatoday, MONDAY, 22 MAY 2017 News PORTOMASOLIVE.COM REGISTER NOW 1 2 3 Register your personal account JOIN DEPOSIT EARN CASHBACK Place your deposit, play & participate in our promotions You're always a winner at Portomaso Live You're always a winner Busuttil: More than choice of government at stake in election YANNICK PACE NATIONALIST Party leader Simon Busuttil has said that everyone could feel that the country was going through a very "particular moment" in the run up to the 3 June elec- tion, and that what was at stake was more than simply a choice of government. "We must choose to rewrite the history of our country," he said, addressing a sizeable crowd yesterday in Birkirka- ra. "This is why thousands of people are coming to the meetings organised by this 'Forza Nazzjonali'." He said that over the past 24 hours, the country's repu- tation had been dragged through the mud over the whole of Europe and the world at a time when Malta held the rotating presidency of the Eu- ropean Council. A time, he said, when the spotlight was on the country, which had the opportunity to show what it was capable of. "Instead we are in the in- ternational news, for all the wrong reasons," he said, refer- ring to a leak of over 100,000 documents from the Malta Financial Services Authority's company registry. The documents were pub- lished over the weekend by the EIC.network together with MaltaToday and 12 other in- ternational media outlets. Busuttil stressed that while the accusations levelled at Malta, that it acts as a tax ha- ven, were factually incorrect, they had been spread very quickly because they came at a time when Malta's credibility and its ability to defend itself were at an all-time low. "The government that is meant to be defending us is itself drowning in corruption. How can [Prime Minister] Jo- seph Muscat defend us against allegations of corruption if he is himself corrupt," said Bu- suttil, adding that the PN was deeply hurt by what was hap- pening. "The Prime Minister yes- terday appealed for national unity," he continued. "If he really wanted unity – which I am ready to offer – he could at least have called me up yester- day to ask for a meeting or a discussion." The PN leader argued that the Prime Minister had not even broached the subject with him at a debate the two leaders were present at yester- day. "Even on something this crucial, he doesn't bother working in the national in- terest," said Busuttil, adding that he would be the one to ask for cross-party collabo- ration instead. "I am promising that if the nation gives me its faith, and the privilege to run the coun- try as Prime Minister, I will immediately take concrete action to fight and overcome the damage being done to Malta," he said. Busuttil said that while he had already named a number of proposals and concrete measures on how to protect the financial services sector, he would be giving a more detailed explanation today. Busuttil insisted once again that the government and La- bour party had been taken over by a few corrupt indi- viduals. "Their mark is the mark of corruption. They are three people that have closed their eyes to corruption and were even active participants or accomplices in corruption," Busuttil said. He underscored that the accusations being made about the OPM chief of staff, Keith Schembri, were criminal acts that had previ- ously never been associated with the government. Describing the revelations thus far as the tip of the ice- berg, Busuttil said the fact that it had been shown that transactions had taken place between Schembri and for- mer Times of Malta manag- ing director Adrian Hillman dating as far back as 2010 shows that Muscat was cor- rupt both in government, as well as when in opposition. Busuttil paid tribute to the "courageous people" who, he said, had come forward with information, at great risk to their families and their livelihood and hit out at the Muscat administration, who he said had "hijacked" the country's institutions which were now moving to investi- gate those exposing corrup- tion, rather than those com- mitting it. He questioned who could have asked for an investiga- tion into who was leaking documents to the PN. "I said yesterday that it must be one of Muscat's puppets, and now we learn from news reports that it was the FIAU that made the complaint," he said. "It has been investigating Keith Schembri for the past year and now it seems that it has also been taken over and sti- f led." MaltaToday reported yes- terday that yet another mag- isterial inquiry is underway, headed by Magistrate Do- reen Clark, after a complaint was lodged by the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit (FIAU) over reports pub- lished in the Times of Malta and the Malta Independent on its compliance reports on Pilatus Bank. He said that the agency was run by the Attorney General to whom he appealed "to do the right thing". "We know you. We put you there. We know they have put pressure on you. We know they have scared you. We know they made you do that which your conscience did not want to do, but now in the name of what is right, do not let them use you any longer. Do what is in the na- tional interest and respect your oath of loyalty towards the constitution," said Bu- suttil. Busuttil to the Attorney General Peter Grech: We know you. We put you there. We know they have put pressure on you. We know they have scared you. We know they made you do that which your conscience did not want to do, but now in the name of what is right, do not let them use you any longer. Do what is in the national interest and respect your oath of loyalty towards the constitution