Opposition Leader Simon Busuttil this morning filed another libel case against the General Workers’ Union newspaper l-orizzont.

It is the fifth case the PN leader opened in two days in his fight against what he is labelling as an invented story that he blackmailed the Gaffarena family.

On Monday, he opened libel cases against l-orizzont, it-Torca and the Labour Party’s One TV and One Radio.

In a statement, Dr Busuttil said that in its panic to avoid his responsibilities, parliamentary secretary Michael Falzon is using the Gaffarena family as his shield.

“I categorically deny the untrue allegations made in the GWU newspapers and I have no doubt that the truth will emerge in court,” Dr Busuttil said.

“Until justice is carried out by the courts, I leave it up to the people who to believe between me and someone like Gaffarena who became rich under a Labour government,” Dr Busuttil said.

He said that Gaffarena went to the Labour Party because he (Dr Busuttil) had the courage to say no when Gaffarena went to request that a permit is issued for his illegal petrol station. On the contrary, the spineless Labour Party gave him what he wanted and more. It is yet another proof that “I want clean politics and lead clean politics”, Dr Busuttil said.

Apart from giving him a permit to operate an illegal petrol station, the PL government gave Gaffarena millions of euros for half a house in Valletta. “And now Gaffarena is paying Michael Falzon back by inventing a lie about me,” Dr Busuttil said.

“If Michael Falzon thinks that the people will forget the scandals he has been involved in, he is mistaken. The Opposition will continue to insist that Michael Falzon shoulders responsibility. The Opposition will continue to fight against the Labour government’s institutionalised corruption and work for cleaner politics,” he said.