Cachia Caruana grilling | Prime Minister sits for second round of questions

Last updated at 9:30pm

As the Parliamentary committee for foreign affairs meets for the third time to discuss the Opposition's motion calling for the resignation of Malta's permanent representative to the EU Richard Cachia Caruana, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi is up for the second time to answer questions from the committee.

"Your arguments are built on sand," Gonzi told the Opposition and Labour MP George Vella after over an hour and a half in which the Prime Minister shot down accusations that government had discussed issues of security without consulting parliament.

Government had been seeking ways in which it could be able to start receiving security documents of Nato and the European Union without forcing government to reactivate the Partnership for Peace, Gonzi said.

Basing his arguments on the premise that government was referring to a security agreement act, Vella told Gonzi that a security agreement act needed a ratification and approval of the Maltese parliament and that the government had gone behind the parliament's back by following Cachia Caruana's orders.

But Gonzi told Vella that his argument was completely wrong, since the memos were referring to the security documents agreement - agreements to receive the exchange of sensitive and privileged information of Nato-EU documents. Gonzi later said that this was not possible without joining the PfP, something which government did after 2008.

In full of defence of Cachia Caruana, Gonzi tabled documents which he said would prove that government had long been planning to start accessing the NATO-EU privileged documentation well before Cachia Caruana was appointed as Malta's permanent representative to the EU.

At one point, Gonzi hit out at Vella and looked insulted when Vella told him that he [Gonzi] had "satisfied his conscience" by presenting a number of newspaper cuttings which revealed that government, even in 2005, had tried to take part, unsuccessfully, in the Nato-EU meetings.

An indignant Prime Minister told Vella that Malta's problem to attend the meetings had been in the public domain and that he expected Vella to "appreciate" the fact that certain "delicate issues" should be discussed diplomatically and go public with the information only when it would be clear that a solution had been found.

"I will never accept anyone accusing me of treason, of betraying my country just because I didn't shout to the world that I was trying to find a solution," an agitated Gonzi said, as he waved his finger in the air.

Vella later went on to reiterate that the Opposition motion was not looking into the Wikileaks cable of 2004 but that the cable had been proof that there was "a government's practice to go behind parliament's back on foreign affairs issue".

The statement led Gonzi to ask what he was then being questioned about and added that he, as prime minister, had been accused of betraying government and insisted that he would answer the serious accusations which were being made.

Vella, who looked as if he wouldn't accept Gonzi's argument that government - and Richard Cachia Caruana - "didn't go behind parliament's back" went on to ask Gonzi to present any memos which Cachia Caruana would have sent him on the issue.

"Are you ready to table copies of any memos which Cachia Caruana could have sent you? Is it possible that you have nothing in writing from him on the subject?" Vella told Gonzi, to which the latter said that "if" Cachia Caruana would have sent him anything he had no problem looking for it and present it to the committee.

Gonzi however reiterated that all tabled documents had shown that there had been a whole process in which government tried to access the security documents agreement and not the lone decision of Cachia Caruana.

As the tension continue to rise between Vella and Gonzi - with Zammit Dimech and Borg defending the prime minister or rebutting questions raised - at one point the two would not stop shouting at each other with Gonzi telling Vella that he should have known what the security documents agreement had been all about.

The discussion turned fierce when Gonzi said Vella should probably read the secret agreement signed between a Labour government and North Korea in 1982, for the exchange of arms and military training.

Later on, a question by Labour MP Leo Brincat that asked the Prime Minister to explain who had come up with the witness list, sparked a spirited reaction by foreign affairs minister Tonio Borg who criticised Brincat for asking the question, with Borg joking that he [Borg] had been "illuminated by an angel".

On the other hand, Gonzi said: "I sat down with Richard Cachia Caruana so together we could retrace back the steps from when I became Prime Minister and come up with a list of names which we believe would support our arguments."

Asked why EU Commissioner John Dalli had not been placed on the witness list, Gonzi said that the issue being discussed did not merit Dalli's presence. He however added that he had no problem if Dalli were to appear before the committee.

Brincat also questioned how Gonzi, with his witness list, was not only defending himself but also taking as given that the witnesses will prove that Cachia Caruana hadn't been involved in any wrongdoing.

"You're clutching at straws," Gonzi told Brincat. "Your case has been shot down and now you're looking into make-believe strategies."   

Last week, Gonzi gave an 18-page document of evidence, dubbing the Opposition's motion of being a grievious accusation against one of the country's top civil servants. "[Richard Cachia Caruana] can never accept to be accused of treason... I have the duty to counter these unjust accusations which are factually ethically and procedurally unfair."

The Opposition is calling for Cachia Caruana's resignation for his 'behind-the-scenes' role in bringing Malta into NATO's Partnership for Peace in 2008 and bypassing the parliamentary procedure for this decision.

Since then, Cachia Caruana has made a rare public appearance to speak during a conference organised by the PN 's think-tank AZAD on the eighth anniversary of Malta's EU membership, while last week, the Prime Minister invited the media to a rare Cabinet meeting in Gozo, to which Cachia Caruana was also present.

Currently at the heart of media reports, Cachia Caruana on Saturday said he was suing Labour MP Evarist Bartolo for the "blatant lie" the Labour MP allegedly said about him on Saturday morning. Cachia Caruana added that he had been the target of a series of personal attacks perpetuated by the Labour MP on their party media.

The committee has been adjourned for tomorrow between 7:30pm and 9:30pm in which Gonzi will continue answering to questions by the committee.