Opposition MP questions police hesitation in investigating government contracts

The police force’s hesitance in investigating government contracts negotiated by health and minister Konrad Mizzi is worrying, shadow Gozo minister Chris Said warned.

Speaking during his parliamentary adjournment, Said recounted how PN leader Simon Busuttil had formally requested police commissioner Michael Cassar to investigate all public contracts during a protest two weeks ago.

“It is the police’s duty to investigate anybody suspected for crimes, from the small fry to people in power,” he said. “Are we in a situation whereby the police commissioner has to request the Prime Minister’s go-ahead before investigating cases? If we are not there yet, then we are getting there, and it is very worrying.”

He brushed off Prime Minister Joseph Muscat’s insistence that “corruption cannot be found in contracts”.

“It may not be written specifically, but indicative clauses can be found within them,” he said.

Said said that several “genuine Labourites” spoke to him recently about their anger at revelations that Konrad Mizzi and OPM chief of staff Keith Schembri own offshore companies in Panama.

“The people cannot understand why Joseph Muscat has refused to fire Mizzi and Schembri,” he said. “They cannot understand how the Labour Party, after so many years in Opposition, have ended up in this situation after only three years of getting elected to government.”

He warned Muscat that suspicions of his own complicity in Mizzi’s and Schembri’s financial set-ups will only grow the longer he waits to fire them  

“It is a shame, because the government’s failure to take action is damaging honest politicians, including Labour MPs,” he said.

“Never in history have we heard of such serious allegations against people at the very heart of Castille,” he said. “The government is in free-fall, and the crisis must be stopped urgently for the country’s sake. The country deserves an honest and clean government that works in the best interests of its citizens.

“Although Labour promised all this before the election, it has failed to deliver on its promises to be transparent and accountable and fight corruption.”