'Abela had no clear-cut evidence of drug abuse' - Muscat

On this evening's edition of Bondi+, Lou Bondi presented the fact that Abela knew about the drugs issue but didn't report it as a clear case of wrongdoing. Opposition leader Joseph Muscat admitted that "all things being equal, I would have reported the case."

Muscat repeatedly skirted around Lou Bondi's attempts to get him to endorse the way Abela proceeded with the case. He explained that Abela did not have any clear-cut evidence of drug abuse. Rather, all he had to go on was an anonymous report that a barman was abusing drugs in a Labour band club. Muscat also denied knowledge of any wrongdoing at the Attard band club.

"I am not saying that Abela did not do wrong. I understand that he was trying to scare the committee in front of him in light of the allegations received. All he had to go on was someone expressing suspicion of drug abuse. Out of an abundance of caution he took the drastic action of getting rid of the person," Muscat said.

Muscat expressed his disappointment at the way in which the recording is being used for political expediency.

"It is negative that the PN had this recording and decided to use it during a sensitive time in the campaign. In the cases of the break in and the other cases being mentioned the police have investigated and no wrongdoing was found," Muscat replied.

He alluded to being approach with tapes featuring the prime minister, but said that he refused to enter into any "shady deals with third parties."

Lou Bondi made a big play on Muscat's past opposition to EU membership, accusing Muscat of getting "the biggest decision since independence wrong." Muscat replied to this by saying that he spent five years campaigning against the EU, and 10 years working in its institutions towards the European good.

Turning to the oil procurement scandal, Bondi played up the possibility that some or all the emails might have been manipulated before publication in MaltaToday and The Times. Muscat said that The Malta Independent had disproved Austin Gatt's argument that the emails had been manipulated due to language discrepancies in the date.

A clip was then shown featuring Austin Gatt stating "I believe that MaltaToday acted in good faith with the emails."

Muscat said that he believes all this bickering about the emails to be irrelevant, as the fact remains that "somebody was, or may still be getting commissions on oil purchases amounting to nearly €1 million per day."

More clips were then shown featuring MaltaToday's managing editor Saviour Balzan confirming that the emails were printed directly off a hard disk given to him by "a third party completely unrelated to the two political parties."

Another issue tackled during tonight's program was the document passed on to the ministry of finance by the security services regarding George Farrugia's alleged tax evasion. Lou Bondi said that legally speaking Tonio Fenech was only allowed to play the role of a messenger, and could not be privy to the contents of the file.  Muscat countered that if Fenech was able to gain access to the contents of the file now, then he could have gained access earlier

Muscat once again said that the most crucial thing is that commission on oil purchase were being had.