Top comment today: The leadership of the Opposition must not be handed to a failed businessman and sleazy lawyer who owes millions

Posted by Josette, not her real name but a respected lawyer of many years’ standing.

This is the reason why it is imperative for the Nationalist Party members to unite behind Chris Said. Think about it: what Adrian Delia and his thuggish followers have done has been similar to what Trump did with Clinton. They are not saying that Delia is immaculate; they are trying to sow doubt about Chris Said’s leadership capabilities; insinuations that he is not clean etc.

They want you to believe that Adrian Delia will breathe fresh life to politics. If he is allowed to become the Nationalist Party leader, what he will breathe will be the party’s kiss of death; and a kiss of death to the continuing fight against corruption.

There is no comparison between the two candidates. Adrian Delia is a bad lawyer and businessman: in Malta, where you have people demolishing their houses, building a few flats and making a few hundred thousands, he managed to get into a real estate deal which exposed him to liability for millions of euros and has failed catastrophically. In 11 years, he and his cohorts have paid back just €1 million of the €8 million+ which they borrowed from HSBC. That project was a non-starter and now they are trapped.

As a young lawyer, Delia started as he apparently meant to go on: opening a bank account in his own name in an offshore jurisdiction – Jersey – to clear money made from a prostitution ring operated out of London flats owned by his client.

In his personal life, he has debts of close to a million euros just for running his home and family. He claims to be a “successful lawyer” with a list of work he has done and clients he has serviced, but instead of money in the bank – which is what you would expect by the age of 50 and all that work done – he has a massive hole of almost a million owed to three banks.

Would you trust such a person to run a grocer’s shop? No, obviously not. A building enterprise? Even less so, given his unsuccessful past and present in real estate. A political party where leadership must be irreproachable from both an administrative and a moral perspective? CERTAINLY NOT.

The new party leader cannot decide to ignore the corrupt activities of the Labour Party in government. He must not be corruptible. He must not have a past which can be used against him.

Chris Said is that and more. He is the way forward now and we should be pleased to vote for him. It is not a contest between two bad candidates, as some of Adrian Delia’s more cunning advocates are attempting to imply. It is a contest between one very bad candidate who will destroy the party and help Muscat destroy the country, and a candidate who has all the necessary qualifications to become a good party leader and fit to take the oath as Leader of the Opposition.