Speaker of the House Anġlu Farrugia has turned down a request by the Opposition to hold an urgent parliamentary debate about the need for deputy prime minister Chris Fearne to resign on Wednesday afternoon.
Fearne, who serves EU funds minister, is to be charged with fraud and misappropriation in connection with the €400 million deal to privatize three state hospitals.
The former health minister took over from disgraced former minister Konrad Mizzi, and oversaw the deal between 2019 and last year. Fearne, together with others will be pursued in connection with the VGH inquiry. Earlier on Wednesday, Fearne said he had not been served with the charges.
During the afternoon parliamentary session, Opposition leader Bernard Grech demanded an urgent debate.
Addressing the House, Grech underlined that this was of vital importance given that charges had been filed against Fearne.
“The public has the right not to be represented by people facing serious criminal charges,” Grech continued.
The Opposition leader cited Standing Order 13 as the basis of his request.
Prime Minister Robert Abela told the House that Fearne will remain as deputy prime minister unless he is clearly linked to an offense.
Abela insisted that if Fearne is mentioned in the recommendations made in the inquiry report, but not in the body of the text, he would continue to defend him to the end. “He will stay on as deputy prime minister,” Abela said.
The prime minister said that it was too premature to discuss resignations. He has also reiterated his call for the inquiry conclusions to be published.
Grech reacted by saying that Abela was taking the country for a ride by implying that he had not read the inquiry, and urged Farrugia to reprimand the prime minister for having lied to parliament.
The Opposition leader recalled that former health minister Godfrey Farrugia was sacked over a tent while Fearne is still minister despite facing charges in connection with the fraudulent €400 million deal.
Farrugia resigned in March 2014, two months after he was publicly reprimanded by disgraced then-prime minister Joseph Muscat for having set up tents for influenza patients outside Mater Dei Hospital.
The sitting was briefly suspended for Farrugia to rule on Grech’s motion.
When the session resumed, Farrugia said he was concerned about the situation, but since the Opposition’s demand would result in a vote, he was rejecting the request as he urged them to use the correct procedure.
“While the matter is without a doubt in the public interest, a call for someone’s resignation needs a specific motion and a vote in the House. This cannot be done through the procedure cited by the Opposition,” Farrugia said.
After the ruling, Grech informed the House that the Opposition was going to start disobeying rules or orders of the House.
“Parliament has been denied the opportunity to discuss such an important matter. It is not enough for the Speaker to be worried,” Grech said, as he continued to stress that parliament was enabling the government through its rulings.
“I’ve outlined the procedure of what you need to do,” Farrugia interjected as he declared Grech out of order.
The Opposition leader hit back with: “The deputy prime minister is out of order. The government is out of order. “This parliament is out of order.”
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