Updated | Speaker finds Jason Azzopardi in breach of privilege after accusing Owen Bonnici of lying

Shadow justice minister Jason Azzopardi was asked by the Speaker of the House of Representatives – in his ruling on a claim of breach of privilege raised by jsutice minister Owen Bonnici – to withdraw his claim that “Owen Bonnici inqabad jigdeb fil-parlament” (Owen Bonnici caught lying in parliament), which had posted on his Twitter account.

Speaker Anglu Farrugia called on Azzopardi – who is currently abroad on official business – to withdraw his claim when he next attended parliament, or else he would have no option but to consider further sanctions.

But, in a statement issued later, Azzopardi said the truth would not be withdrawn and that he would be appealing the speaker's ruling.

"I look forward for the truth to emerge further in a parliamentary debate so that the public understands how and why the justice minister was caught lying about the commissions that Henley and Partners received," he said.

"Owen Bonnici - who is supposed to defend justice in our country - should grow up and stop using parliament as a kangaroo court."

Bonnici had presented his claim to a breach of privilege on 23 November after Azzopardi tweeted that “Owen Bonnici lied to parliament” and after the comments and post were reported in a MaltaToday article.

In his reply to the minister’s claim, Azzopardi had reiterated his position, saying that details revealed in a MaltaToday article showed that Bonnici had lied to parliament’s Public Acounts Committee when testifying on the contract signed between the government and Henley and Partners, which administers the Individual Investors Programme.

Azzopardi said that Bonnici had claimed that Henley were not being paid a 4% commission on the purchase of government bonds and stocks by the applicants.

But the speaker said that, after examining Bonnici’s statements in the PAC meetings on the Henley contract, the minister had clearly indicated that the agency was being paid an additional 4% commission on more than one type of investment.

He noted that IIP applicants were bound to invest €650,000, invest in government bonds or stocks, and purchase or rent property in Malta in order for their application for a Maltese passport to be considered.

Farrugia said he had concluded that Azzopardi posted his tweet without having carefully examined in full the minister’s statements in the PAC meetings, where it was clear that the 4% commission would not be paid as a ”paid in commission” on one investment type only.

He said that the breach of privilege was evident in Azzopardi’s repeated claims in parliament after Bonnici had raised his complaint, in which he said he would

not accept the use of words like ‘liar’ and ‘corrupt’, especially after his testimony in front of the Public Accounts Committee.

Azzopardi had asked the speaker to verify if Bonnici had lied to the PAC on 16 March, 2016, and if the minister had stated that an additional commission was not being paid to Henley and Partners.

Justice Minister's reaction

In a statement, Justice Minister Owen Bonnici welcomed the Speaker's ruling against opposition MP Jason Azzopardi and said it was interesting that the Speaker had suggested that Azzopardi had not examined all the evidence before posting his claim on Twitter.

Bonnici noted that the Speaker had also pointed out that Azzopardi had not even sought further clarification from him before repeating his claims in parliament and that the speaker had concluded that Azzopardi's words were not acceptable as the kind of language to be used in parliament.

The minister said he hoped the speaker's ruling would urge Azzopardi to be more mature in the future and stop making accusations without any basis, with the sole aim of besmirching the image of a government minister.