Grech says he told party not to capitalise on jailing of European Commissioner’s son

Opposition Leader Bernard Grech insisted yesterday that party media should not capitalise on certain situations when reporting, as it does not matter who the person or what their occupation is.

Speaking during a radio interview on 103 Malta’s Heart with host Andrew Azzopardi, reference was made to the recent report involving the younger son of European Commissioner Helena Dalli, who was jailed three months after he was found guilty of trafficking ecstasy in 2013.

Azzopardi questioned whether Grech condemns the fact that the court left a man hanging for all this time.

In reply, Grech remarked that it is unacceptable, saying the young man has changed and started a business – something which the courts do not take into account.

He said problems existed before 2013 but this government has not addressed them.

Grech admitted that in March of 2004, he was involved in a traffic accident, hitting an 18-year old woman with his car.

“At the time I was not involved in any politics. I was a nobody to the public. Yet despite this, a newspaper aligned with a political party published an article in which it described me as a lawyer. This is wrong because the fact that I was a lawyer added nothing to the story.”

The PN media did not mention the fact that 26 year old Jean-Marc Dalli was Helena Dalli’s son.

Grech insisted that party media should not take advantage of such situations as it doesn’t matter who the person or what his/her occupation is. He said he had instructed the party not to capitalise on the situation.

Speaking about the collapse of buildings in Malta, particularly referring to the tragedy that claimed the life of the mother of two when her Ħamrun home collapsed into a construction site next door on 2 March last year, Grech stated that the abuse occuring within the construction industry needs to be addressed and stopped.

The government had a report on what happened and what needs to be done since April, but the document was only published last week. “Although the report came out, the government should now see to it that it is implemented.”

Grech highlighted that the problem with construction development in Malta is not the development per se, but the abuse that occurs.

“Although there are many developers who abide by the rules, like everywhere else, there are those who abuse and cause harm to those surrounding the development. When one continuously ignores such a situation, things will only grow.” Grech said.

Speaking about the issue of bird hunting and how Grech recently described hunters and trappers as “nature lovers... nature lovers with a gun”, Azzopardi questioned how one can look at bird hunting as a hobby.

In reply, Grech defended hunters by addressing the negative perception the public has about them.

He said that “as as a person who is not into hunting, I cannot simply decide that the bird is more important than the human, solely because I don’t understand its point as a hobby. This does not mean that the hunter can abuse of the situations.”

“We are against the abuse of poaching, but one must understand that this particular hobby is very important to the hunter,” he said.

In addition, moving on to speaking about the situation in Malta’s prison and how photo of a notice signed by director general, Colonel Alexander Dalli that says the role of prison is “to teach fear” was published, Azzopardi asked whether Dalli would remain director if Grech were to become Prime Minister.

Point blank, Grech replied with a solid no, saying that this act was blatant abuse on man and an attack on the whole system that caused nothing but harm.

With regards to the Cornonavirus pandemic, Grech reiterated multiple times by saying that the government needed to be more honest with the public during this time. In addition, when the time came that we almost eredicated the virus from this country, the government opened the airport to early.

Grech appealed that during this time, one should listen more to what Superintendent of Public Health Charmaine Gauci has to say.