Delia says no vote was taken by PN administrative committee; challenges Caruana Galizia

Nationalist Party leadership contender Adrian Delia has said that contrary to comments made by Karol Aquilina, the PN’s administrative council did not take a vote on the statement it issued requesting him to reconsider his leadership bid.

On Wednesday, the PN’s administrative council released a statement asking Delia to reconsider his position in light of a report drawn up by the ethics committee set up by the party to investigate allegations which have surfaced against him. Commenting on the statement yesterday, the administrative council’s president, Karol Aquilina, said that a unanimous vote had been taken on the issue.

At a press conference later in the day, Delia roundly rejected Aquilina’s comments, claiming that according to information he had received, the administrative council had not taken any such vote. He added that the council had taken a different view from that of the ethics committee. “The ethics committee could have sanctioned me, suspended me or dismissed me, but did nothing of the sort,” he said.

He insisted he would continue defending the right of journalists to speak out, including that of Daphne Caruana Galizia – against whom he has filed five libel suits since the start of the leadership contest. He went on to invite the journalist to meet him, whenever she wished, to establish who was right and who was wrong.

While the ethics committee’s report looked into all four PN leadership contenders, particular attention was paid to allegations made by Caruana Galizia. She alleges that Adrian Delia has an offshore bank account in Jersey in which payments were made on behalf of a client for ‘rent’ – that is, proceeds of prostitution – of a London property said to have been used as a brothel. The property in question is owned by a company, behind which is Delia’s client.

Delia, a lawyer, served as the company’s director as part of the fiduciary

According to the journalist, Chris Cardona, who is now Minister for the Economy, was also a director of the company. Delia could not recall, however, Cardona’s involvement, noting that 14 years had gone by. He denies, moreover, ever having had an offshore bank account. He claims that a client bought the London property and hired somebody to manage it. This person, in turn, used it as a brothel. In 2003, a months-long investigation carried out by the Metropolitan Police into human trafficking in the British capital resulted in the property being raided, leading Delia to resign as director of the company which owned it.

Insisting he had never held any funds abroad, Delia made reference to an MFSA licence allowing him to carry out such fiduciary services, which by nature, he said, involved dealing with offshore accounts.

Turning to a document uploaded by Caruana Galizia purporting services he offered. to show how Delia does indeed own an offshore bank account, he said that this information had been leaked to her by people previously arraigned and convicted in the UK. He stressed that nobody had ever gone after him, he had never been taken to court over the matter, and no charges had been brought against him.

Delia also took umbrage at Caruana Galizia’s description of the men he surrounds himself with as ‘thugs’, stating that tattoos didn’t automatically make someone a thug.

‘Not one party supporter has asked me to step down’

The Malta Independent questioned Delia’s refusal to bow out of the leadership contest, noting that he himself had stated that Malta should come before any political party and that the PN’s ideal candidate was one whose integrity could not be questioned. Delia insisted that although a few wellknown figures had urged him to withdraw his candidacy, he had been inundated with calls, messages and other forms of communication from grassroots supporters encouraging him to see the leadership election through.

He was also pressed by this newsroom on whether he thought the Nationalist Party had been deluded into thinking it had a chance to win the last general election as a result of groupthink and other isolating factors, and whether he was making the same mistake. In reply, Delia said he did not want to repeat the party’s mistakes and had broadened his horizons in terms of the people he spoke to and places he visited, adding that everyone had encouraged him not to end his campaign.

“They don’t recognise their own party,” he said. “I’ve had 70-year-olds coming to me, putting holy water on my head and asking me to carry on fighting. I would not be here if I did not think I was fit for purpose,” he exclaimed.