Every sector in the country is compromised – Adrian Delia

There is not one single sector in Malta that isn't compromised and used by this government for money, Opposition Leader Adrian Delia said.

"The contracts, the Planning Authority, the Lands Authority, the tourism sector, the hospitals, the financial sector, our passports—there is not one sector in Malta that isn't ready to sell itself, to sell the country. We can't keep carrying on like this," Delia said.

Speaking on NET FM on Saturday, Delia said that the government had captured all the sectors of the country for its personal advantage and for pleasing powerful people.

"The law of the jungle is the one that's reigning supreme now. It's whoever can dominate more, whoever can capture more. This is plain theft."

Delia mentioned former OPM's head of communications Kurt Farrugia as a prime example of how the government was only concerned with pleasing its friends. Farrugia was appointed CEO of Malta Enterprise last August and earns a basic salary of €105,000, rising by increments of €26,000 per year and amounting to a maximum financial package of around €180,000 after five years of service.

"The people are the ones paying the price for these decisions. The government is hoodwinking the electorate. What is Kurt Farrugia giving back to the people? This is unacceptable.

"Government needs to look people in the eye and answer to its behaviour. It is using its power to please its friends and to help itself. Institutions are being thwarted by the government with a purpose when they should be taking decisions for the people they serve," Delia said.

He reiterated his disagreement with the golden passports scheme, saying that such a scheme "shouldn't happen." He claimed that from its inception he had always been a vociferous critic of the Individual Investors Programme and that such a scheme amounted to a glib sale of Maltese sovereignty.

"People who buy these passports are using Malta as a backyard for their shady dealings. We are selling our sovereignty and identity so that people can make money off our name. There are consequences and we are destroying the reputation of this country," Delia said.

He criticised the government for being especially hypocritical on the subject of the environment, saying that while the government was pretending to have the environment at the heart of its politics, the same government was allowing the Planning Authority to ruin the environment at every turn.

Last month, the PA green-lighted ruins on the pristine Qala coast to turn into a private villa with a swimming pool. The controversial permit would redevelop a 31 square-metre countryside ruin into a 114 square-metre property on land sold to Gozo construction magnate Joe Portelli.

"Members representing the government and the Opposition told Infrastructure Minister Ian Borg and Prime Minister Joseph Muscat that this project was untenable while the government pointed fingers at the PA and said that the project followed the policy.

"This government is ready to throw away everything. It takes certain decisions behind closed doors and uses the Opposition as a front for the destruction of the country," Delia said.