Updated | Labour ramps up pressure over de Marco works - 'Busuttil must take decision'

The Labour Party reiterated their challenge on Opposition leader Simon Busuttil to take a decision over PN deputy leader Mario de Marco, over allegations that he had benefitted from unpaid construction works on his house.

Parliamentary secretary for planning Deborah Schembri said that Busuttil had first lied that de Marco had published invoices for the works, and had later dodged questions from the press.

“It is not up to us to tell him what decision to take, but lying to defend De Marco and avoiding the subject entirely isn’t an option,” she told a press conference. “That isn’t proper behaviour from a politician preaching honesty; it’s simply political hypocrisy.”

MaltaToday revealed that de Marco in March paid €34,000 for construction works carried out on his house in 2011 by Redmap Constructions. This means that he only paid for the ongoing works after Redmap’s owner Pierre Sladden was named in the Panama Papers as having used offshore firms in the British Virgin Islands.

De Marco claims that he had regularly requested an invoice, but that the contractor insisted that the invoice be issued once the works are complete.

Tourism minister Edward Zammit Lewis insisted that the works were originally intended as a gift to de Marco, who was back then a serving minister.

“Busuttil is portraying himself as a paladin of good governance and he now has the chance to walk the talk,” he said. “However, it is clear that he doesn’t know how to take decisions. He published a document on good governance that said that gifts to ministers of over €150 must be declared, but has yet to take action against de Marco. This is a sign of double standards and political hypocrisy from a confused leader who is stranded in a desert as the only person who cannot take decisions.”

‘Judge Mizzi on results, don’t demonise him’

The Labour MPs defended Prime Minister Joseph Muscat’s recent decision to maintain Konrad Mizzi as a Cabinet minister in charge of “special works”, despite his ownership of an offshore company in Panama.

Schembri insisted that Muscat’s decision was “fair and proportionate”, given that Mizzi hadn’t broken the law.

Zammit Lewis argued that a “whole spectrum of opinion” exists on Muscat’s decision and that some people had not wanted him to take any action against Mizzi.

“What is clear is that the Prime Minister took a decision and that he has no problem shifting ministers around to help the government deliver,” he said. “This is unlike Simon Busuttil who is all talk and wasn’t even capable of forming a united party stance in favour of civil unions.”

He urged the public not to “demonise” Konrad Mizzi, but rather to judge him on his results.

“Mizzi shouldered political responsibility and we must now await the results of the Prime Minister’s decision. This legislature has two more years to run, meaning that Mizzi has ample time to deliver.”

‘Labour lying to deviate attention from Panamagate’ – PN

The Nationalist Party reacted by accusing Labour of lying about De Marco in an attempt to deviate public attention from the Panama scandal.

“De Marco paid in the full for the works carried out on his house by Pierre Sladden, and the bill was not for works carried out in 2011 but for works carried out between 2011 and 2015,” the PN said in a statement. “If Labour is so obsessed with invoices, then it can start by publishing Muscat’s invoices for his recent holiday to Dubai and for works on his Burmarrad house for which a permit was issued in record time under a Labour government.”