PN disassociates itself from former candidate Ryan Mercieca

Updated at 5:30 pm with Ryan Mercieca statement

The Nationalist Party has dissociated itself from 13th district general election candidate Ryan Mercieca.

In a statement, the party said that following consultations with leader Bernard Grech, secretary general Francis Zammit Dimech called on the PN’s ethics committee to investigate what was reported on Mercieca.

The investigation comes following a casual election on the district in light of MP Fredrick Azzopardi’s death earlier in October.

In January 2017, the Commissioner of Police was ordered to investigate an incident in which the treasurer of the Gozo NGOs Association, Joseph Camilleri was allegedly threatened by the association's secretary outside a courtroom, after testifying in a libel case against Maltese-language newspaper, it-Torca.

Camilleri claimed that Mercieca had approached him in the corridor outside the courtroom and had asked whether the treasurer had sought permission from the association to exhibit the documents in court.

Camilleri said he had replied by saying that he had spoken to the association's president. Mercieca had then allegedly said "issa gejja tieghek," which loosely translates to “you'll get what's coming to you.”

The PN said that the ethics committee met on 31 October to discuss Mercieca’s position.

It said Mercieca was granted the opportunity to defend his position, even with the assistance of his own personal lawyer. Despite Mercieca’s defence, the committee decided that he had not provided the necessary explanations.

“The committee has therefore decided that he cannot be a candidate representing the PN in the upcoming casual election,” the statement read.

The PN also said that Mercieca did not agree with the party’s position, and will go ahead with his intention of contesting the casual election.

Disassociating itself from the candidate, the PN said that it will be starting proceedings to oust him from the party.

Ryan Mercieca reacts

Reacting to the statement, Mercieca has called out the party for failing to properly state facts on the issue.

“[The press release] does not make any mention of my decision not to be further considered as a candidate of the Nationalist Party,” he said.

He also went on to state that he looks to abide by the committee position, and not submit his nomination.

Mercieca said that he has refuted the allegations against him, and insisted that he has never been found guilty of any wrong doing.

“The document referred to in the Libel case I had instituted was in actual fact presented to the Court and confirmed under oath and an affidavit by the person responsible for such a document. Thus, the original document was never in my possession; I was at no point responsible to issue such a document and I had absolutely no reason to doubt the genuineness of such a document,” he said.

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