Busuttil wants security committee meeting convened urgently as PM sets 10 September date

Opposition leader Simon Busuttil has called on Prime Minister Joseph Muscat to convene a meeting of the Security Committee well before 10 September.

In a statement, the Nationalist Party said the PN leader had received an invite to attend the meeting, set following a phone call on Sunday between the Busuttil and Muscat.

Busuttil however said that the proposed date was more than three weeks after audit Joe Sammut’s arraignment.

“This is a matter affecting our national security and our national security should not be left to wait for three weeks. National security is by definition a matter of urgency. The meeting should therefore be called urgently and not in three weeks,” Busuttil said.

Sammut was arraigned on 18 August on a host of charges relating to money laundering, fraud, misappropriation and forgery. He had previously been granted police bail after being held for questioning over allegations of aiding Libyan nationals obtain a residency permit by creating fake companies. He was questioned at length by the Economic Crimes Unit over the registration of hundreds of Libyan companies in Malta.

Three Libyan witnesses testified for the prosecution in return for a promise of immunity from criminal action related to this case.

“[Sammut] was arraigned in court revealing a scandal of mammoth proportions affecting the issuing of visas and residence permits by the national authorities,” the PN said.