He enjoys the Prime Minister's trust, that is what matters, Tourism Minister says on Keith Schembri

Tourism Minister Edward Zammit Lewis would not say today whether he backed Keith Schembri in light of recent kickbacks allegations, insisting that it was the fact that he enjoyed the prime minister's trust that mattered. Mr Schembri, he said, was not a political person but he still testified whenever asked to appear. Dr Zammit Lewis was commenting about allegations by Opposition leader Simon Busuttil that the Prime Minister's chief of staff received kickbacks from the controversial cash-for-passports scheme. Dr Busuttil said in a press conference yesterday that he had documents to support his claims. “It is not a question of whether we stand by him or not, there are processes and he is a person who enjoys the Prime Minister’s trust. Mr Schembri is someone who has worked tirelessly for the Labour Party as well as this government,” Dr Zammit Lewis said. On whether Mr Schembri should step aside, at least until allegations were investigated, Dr Zammit Lewis said that no real evidence against Mr Schembri had yet been supplied. He insisted that country's institutions had full autonomy to investigate any claims being made and should be trusted to do so without any interference from...