Gonzi got ‘thousands’ of SMSs from Debono

Lawrence Gonzi received “thousands” of text messages from former backbencher Franco Debono throughout the last legislature, the former Prime Minister reveals in an interview today. “They came at all hours of the day and night... It was a five-year saga. It started on day one!” Dr Gonzi tells The Sunday Times in a candid interview. The Opposition leader’s statement comes two weeks after PN general secretary Paul Borg Olivier also said he was at the receiving end of Dr Debono’s text messages. Dr Gonzi says the SMSs from the former MP who eventually brought down his own government were a source of uncertainty, tension and pressure for him and his family. He was reluctant to divulge the contents of the text messages, though he did say that on one evening the former MP demanded to speak to him while Dr Gonzi was locked in a crucial EU summit in Brussels. Dr Gonzi also speaks openly for the first time about the fact he was losing sight in his right eye. “It’s a condition which hasn’t improved in the past 12 to 15 months notwithstanding treatment and injections in the eye. It’s a terrible experience,” he says about the problem which was first diagnosed in January 2012 in the midst of...