Karol Aquilina to face parliamentary privileges committee over comments against PM

Nationalist Party MP Karol Aquilina will be brought before the parliamentary privileges committee after refusing to retract comments he made about Prime Minister Robert Abela during a parliamentary session on February 25.

The remarks were made while Abela was delivering a ministerial statement regarding the theft of 200kg of drugs from Armed Forces of Malta premises.

During the session, Aquilina accused the Prime Minister of being "friends with criminals." Abela subsequently requested that the Speaker intervene and ask Aquilina to withdraw his statement.

Speaker Anġlu Farrugia addressed the matter in parliament on Thursday, acknowledging that, while such remarks are never acceptable, they may sometimes arise in the heat of the moment.

Nevertheless, he offered Aquilina a final opportunity to retract his comments before a decision was made.

Aquilina, however, stood by his words, stating that if similar accusations had been made against him, he would have pursued a libel case. He suggested that Abela had not done so "because he is afraid of the evidence or witnesses that can be presented in court."

The Nationalist MP further alleged that Abela was confident of the Speaker's ruling and that the government "wants to help criminals and corrupt politicians". Aquilina insisted that he would not withdraw his statements and welcomed the involvement of the parliamentary privileges committee, stating that he intended to present evidence and witnesses to support his claims.

He said the first three witnesses he will bring to testify are Robert Agius, accused of supplying the bomb the killed Daphne Caruana Galizia; Adrian Agius, accused of masterminding the murder of Carmel Chircop; and Christian Borg of No Deposit Cars.

Following Aquilina's refusal to retract his remarks, Speaker Farrugia confirmed that the case would be referred to the permanent committee for parliamentary privilege for further deliberation.