PM calls Simon Busuttil a ‘liar’

The Prime Minister Joseph Muscat labeled Opposition leader Simon Busuttil a ‘liar’ for claims which he made during last Friday’s Leader’s Debate on local current affairs television programme Xarabank.

Busuttil, during the show, claimed that that contracts his legal firm had received from the Rural Affairs Ministry, back in 2009, were not a result of direct orders. However, upon verifying, Muscat said that there was in fact a 'substantial' number of contracts paid to Busuttil in direct orders.

Lambasting Busuttil for ‘lacking credibility and credentials’ to be trusted, Muscat said the PN leader had to now ‘shoulder responsibility’.

Muscat, who was speaking at a political activity in Rabat, said that in its first year, the government had ‘left no stone unturned’. Addressing those people who, for the first time, voted for the Labour Party in last year’s election, he criticised the PN for attempting to use scaremongering tactics to deter them from doing so.

A year on, he said, it was correct for people to question whether the government was living up to its electoral promises, and insisted that government was proving so, citing the imminent opening of childcare centres and the fact that stipends will continue to be increased by the year.

Referring to this week’s buy-out of Enemalta by Chinese investors Shanghai Electric Power, Muscat said that there would have been ‘enormous uncertainties’ for the country as a whole had the government not intervened to reach such an agreement.

Muscat said that the €800 million of ‘unsustainable’ debt, which Enemalta was ‘drowning in’ when the Labour government got elected, meant that the risks would not only have been restricted to the company alone, but also to the national banks and each and every account holder with such banks.

“Ultimately it would have been the banks that would have needed to come to Enemalta’s rescue.  Just imagine the enormous uncertainty of those people who had all their life-savings deposited in these banks,” he said.

The Prime Minister said that the government managed to half the company’s debt whilst, at the same time, overseeing a national economic growth.

“They (the Opposition) said that our only solution would be to increase water and electricity tariffs and yet these, also, will be reduced as of next month,” he said, adding that the PN’s mantra seemed to be one of scaremongering.

“These are the same people with the same lack of strategy,” he said. “And that is the difference between us and them.”

Muscat also said that by the end of this legislature, the Marsa power station will be closed down whilst the chimney at the Delimara power station will be dismantled.

With regard to the tanker which will be berthed in Marsaxlokk and used for the storage of LNG gas, Muscat said that the ship will leave after the completion of the interconnector project, which will see Malta linked to Sicily as a source of energy.

He said that leading Maltese and European experts had given reassurances of the safety involved in unloading LNG.

Declaring himself pro-business, Muscat freely admitted to using the Chinese economy as a model to imitate.

“Why should we shy away from this fact when there are other countries such as the United Kingdom which is doing the exact same thing?” he said. “In fact, we should be proud that we got there before such countries.”

However, Muscat said that although encouraging business was important, the rights of workers must always be respected.