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maltatoday, SUNDAY, 20 AUGUST 2017 2 News PN LEADERSHIP Said knows he's no novelty: 'my strength is experience' Adrian Delia: 'A united PN can win the next election' "I cannot call myself a new face in politics as, clearly, I am not," Nation- alist leadership contender Chris Said in an interview he gave to Radio 101. "It's my experience that will allow me to bring this party together and focus on what should be focused on from my first day in office." The Nationalist MP and former min- ister insisted that there's "no [time] to waste" as he pledged to change the PN's infrastructure and investments. The MP reaffirmed that as leader of the party he would work from a dif- ferent locality each week. "The party will be going to them," he insisted. Said reiterated his position that as leader of the party Simon Busut- til would remain "at the heart of the party", there to aid the opposition on the Panama Papers scandal. He also emphasised that as leader of the Opposition he would give his colleagues a free vote on matters of conscience, morality and ethics. He would also ensure that the defini- tions of 'mother' and 'father' are re- introduced in Malta's body of laws, for those who prefer not to opt for the more generic 'parent'. This will be carried out without touching, in any way, any new rights introduced in the relevant law. Said went through main policy pro- posals, which include prioritizing ed- ucation, rewarding the elderly with a retirement that celebrates a life-time of contribution to the country and to provide financial reimbursement for those grandparents who take care of their grandchildren during the day. A future Nationalist government, Said reiterated, would remove in- come tax on pensions and provide all medicines related to old age for free. "If the government thinks there is no strong opposition stopping it, it will soon be in for a surprise," Said said, adding that PN members need to work to reaffirm the party's values so that they can once again be in gov- ernment. THE PN can win the next general elec- tion if it unites behind the winner of the upcoming leadership contest, according to leadership contender Adrian Delia. Delia made the statement at a meeting with party members and councillors at the PN club in Zabbar yesterday, in the run up to the September leadership elec- tion. He insisted that the PN's political ad- versaries were doing everything in their power to divide the party and stop it from finding its feet again, but that "thousands of Nationalist supporters together with those who want to vote PN again are sending a clear message of unity." It was "precisely because the PN is very relevant to people's lives that the coun- try is alive with discussions about the ap- pointment of the leader of the PN," Delia said. Councillors who will be voting on Sep- tember 2 must listen carefully to what the party members and supporters had to say, because they would be making the first choices about who would be lead- ing and the methods that the Opposition would be adopting in the coming years, he said. Adrian Delia reminded those present of his proposals for the party and the na- tion, should he be elected leader. "I want to change the structure of leadership so that the members of our committees do not simply remain those who distribute memberships but are also given the space they need to make the PN's politics." Amongst other measures, Delia pro- posed the strengthening of the party me- dia, youth movement and the appoint- ment of two assistant secretaries-general and a full-time director for local coun- cils. Delia also had words of praise for the "valuable contributions" of Anne Fenech and Alex Perici Calascione who had fi- nancially restructured the party over the past four years. Their teams' work must not be discarded after September 16, but used as a foundation for further growth from the positive achievements of outgo- ing PN leader Simon Busuttil, he said. MATTHEW VELLA NATIONALIST Party leadership candidate Adrian Delia has denied having taken the law in his hands, when he and members of the Birkirkara FC committee seized the car keys of goalkeeper Miroslav Kopric in a bid to drive him to a garage and extract a con- fession on match-fixing. Kopric, 31, a Croatian national, has now filed a case with the international sports tri- bunal in a bid to recover unpaid wages after being accused of, but never charged with, the match-fixing allegations. But the goalkeeper has insisted that his career was ruined when he was effectively 'kidnapped' and taken to a Bugibba garage to confess to match-fixing, without any charges ever filed against him. Delia is denying the allegation. "I deny the allegation that the goalkeeper was taken anywhere against his will. He came of his own volition. "Our obligation was to ask the player to give us his version of events so we could present them to the police. We provided all our findings to the police and the matter is still the subject of an investigation. This case is further evidence that I have zero tol- erance for corruption and will continue to fight it even in politics," Delia told MaltaTo- day when asked about the event. Following a string of bad results, some time in December 2016, Delia confronted Kopric in front of his team-mates, accusing him of being a traitor and that he had be- trayed the club. "He pushed me out of the dressing-room, and took off my training kit, to give it to the manager. Then Jonathan Friggieri, the club secretary, took my car keys and Delia told me to walk behind him. They took my phone from the car," the goalkeeper said. At that point, Delia and other committee members – Michael Bonnici, Jeffrey Bezzi- na, Nick Grima and Friggieri – took Kopric with them, and they drove to Bugibba in two cars. "They took me to a garage and told me to sit down. He gave me a paper and pen and started shouting, telling me to write names and numbers, or else face the police. I told him immediately that we should go to the police. But instead of going to the police, Delia carried out his own interrogation." Kopric said Delia was expecting him to write down the mobile phone numbers of suspects in match-fixing. "Then we left the garage, we drove to my apartment in Mgarr, and they took my lap- top," Kopric said, who notes that his own accusers lifted the 'evidence' that was sup- posed to be taken by the police. "On the next day, a Saturday, I myself went to the Mosta police station to report what had happened, and that same afternoon my wife and I made the same report to the Ra- bat police station. The next day, the police came to my residence and arrested me. "The police asked me about shady char- acters I allegedly met while in Malta, but it was untrue because at all the times they mentioned, I had been with my wife," Ko- pric said. The goalkeeper, who is currently with his wife and three children in Croatia, said per- sonal belongings seized from him have not yet been returned. "I haven't been in employment for eight months and I need this investigation to be closed if I am to return to football," Kopric said. Kopric was kept in custody for 48 hours when he was taken for interrogation. In a recent statement to the press, Kopric said that the stress brought on his family had led to his wife spending two months in hospital because of complications during her pregnancy, which led to her giving birth to twins six weeks earlier than the due date. "Because of these false accusations I couldn't do my job for the last six months and get paid for it because nobody wanted to hire a goalkeeper that was 'involved' in match fixing. And I cannot prove that I am innocent because one court expert on Malta does not respect deadlines." Kopric is also filing a separate case in the Maltese courts. Delia is currently running for PN leader, where the outsider is facing Nationalist MP Chris Said and PN treasurer Alex Perici Ca- lascione, as well as former MP Frank Por- telli. Of the four candidates two will be se- lected by the PN's general council to face a run-off in which it will be the party's 22,000 paid-up members who will determine who the next PN leader will be. Delia, a lawyer and partner of the Aequitas firm, is widely billed to be the most popular of all candidates. But his interests in property development have raised questions about his suitabil- ity as potential party leader: only recently, HSBC Malta drew up a constitution of debt for €7.2 million for Mgarr Developments, a company in which Delia is a 9% shareholder. The company took out millions in loans for the acquisition and redevelopment of the former Mgarr Hotel in Gozo, into an apartment complex. The constitution of debt effectively means Mgarr Developments must first repay its banking liabilities before Delia can divest himself of his business interests. mvella@mediatoday.com.mt Kopric: 'I haven't worked for eight months because of false match-fixing accusations' Miroslav Kopric (bottom) says PN leadership candidate Adrian Delia and the Birkirkara committee took his phones, car keys and laptop and interrogated him over match-fixing instead of taking him to the police