PN PM Tony Bezzina claims ‘political frame-up’ after police interrogation
Nationalist MP Toni Bezzina said he was the victim of a “political frame-up” after he was interrogated by police over corruption claims dating back to 2012.
Bezzina was questioned by police at the Financial Crime Investigation Department in Ħamrun in connection with an alleged case of corruption relating to using government workers to carry out maintenance works at a PN club in 2012.
Upon exiting the police building on Monday evening, Bezzina said he was being framed.
“The truth is that this is a political frame-up in my regard and I look forward to the full truth coming out. We said what we had to say,” he said, declining to comment further.
Bezzina is the PN’s spokesperson for Transport and Infrastructure.
The corruption claims were made by newspapers Kullħadd and L-Orizzont, which claimed that Bezzina had used government employees within what was then the Resources Ministry to carry out maintenance works at the PN club in Żurrieq, where he was President.
Bezzina lost a libel case on the claims in 2016 after one of the workers testified that he was forced to sign a document which stated that the workers went to work at the club out of their free will. Bezzina did, however, win an appeal on the case a year later.
PN leader Bernard Grech was coy about what action he would take against Bezzina, saying on Sunday that he will investigate the matter when he has all the facts in hand.
He did, however, question the timing of the criminal proceedings:
“I always said that the PN was never perfect, isn’t perfect and is not going to be perfect. But it is interesting that the police are now - on the eve of an election - looking into a case where a PN MP is allegedly involved which dates back nine years,” Grech said.
“I always said that where the law is broken, investigations should take place and steps should be taken. But, in the case of Toni Bezzina, why did nine years pass before they even spoke to him, and why was he never told that there was an investigation?”