Muscat keeps pressure on PN over works-for-votes Gozo scam

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has kept up the heat on the Opposition after it emerged that whistleblower Joe Cauchi, who was left some €50,000 out of pocket by the Gozo ministry when carrying out works for private constituents, had communicated with the Nationalist Party.

Cauchi says that former Gozo minister Giovanna Debono’s husband Anthony commissioned him to carry out private works for which he was paid from the ministerial budget. The matter is being investigated by the police.

“I am stating a fact: PN secretary-general Chris Said knew of this, having in black and white, a declaration by a person that he had built somebody a place that was paid for by the government. And he did nothing,” Muscat said of emails sent by Cauchi to Said after the PN went in opposition, demanding he be paid for his work.

“Now the Opposition leader says he got to know about it before Chris Said’s press conference. I want to know what the Opposition leader told him: in my view this is the tip of the iceberg,” Muscat said.

Simon Busuttil said yesterday he was never told of the “works for votes” scam despite a meeting two years ago with the contractor making the allegations.

The Nationalist Party leader said he met Gozitan contractor Joe Cauchi, the whistleblower in this case, in 2013 but the alleged scam was never mentioned to him.

“When Mr Cauchi met me, just two months after I was elected party leader, his complaint was that he was still awaiting payment for work carried out as a contractor during the previous administration,” Busuttil said when asked about this meeting.

The meeting happened a full year before Cauchi raised the allegations in an email to PN secretary general Chris Said.

Muscat, whose party’s electoral slogan for the local council elections is ‘Malta ottimista’ (Optimistic Malta), claimed that he could attest to the public’s optimism during his electoral rallies. “I think this is a concrete sign of optimism… you can’t make it up,” the prime minister, who enjoys a lead in MaltaToday trust ratings of 15 points over his rival, said.

“We are in mid-term elections that are usually won by the Opposition, and I am working to have the government win these elections, if only by just one vote.”

He said his party had proven that much can be achieved by an energetic government. “People become restless when they see a sluggish government… there is much more to be done but you cannot do in 24 months what takes five years to complete.”

He accused the Opposition of being incoherent in its political message, saying the PN first questioned the possibility of attracting a €200 million investment in private-public healthcare, and then claiming that somebody had already been earmarked for the investment. “First they say it’s impossible, then they claim it is possible because somebody is being pegged for the project… what’s the real message? Unfortunately, they are all over the place.”

Muscat touched on the subject of road infrastructure to say that councils had been left in debt and chasing finances because of certain extensive roadworks that had delivered good quality but emptied the coffers. “It’s a time for a game-changer in the matter of transport… the roads councils have built have left them in debt. They are good roads but not cash was left to build other roads.”